Off-duty Italy art cops find looted statue in Belgian shop

ROME (AP) — Italian police say they have recovered a 1st century Roman statue that was stolen from an archaeological site in 2011 and found in a Belgian antiques shop by two off-duty Italian art squad police officers. The Carabinieri art squad said Monday that an Italian businessman who used a Spanish pseudonym has been referred to prosecutors for further investigation into allegations he received and then exported the statue abroad. The statue, featuring a headless Roman wearing a draped toga, has been valued at 100,000 euro. It was stolen in November 2011 from the Villa Marini Dettina archaeological site on the outskirts of Rome. The two art squad police were on assignment in Brussels when they took a walk after work in an area known for its antiques shops.