[Gocamino] Codex Recovery

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
During  my recent visit to Seville for Holy Week many  religious items were stolen from several churches sponsoring the processions. Four Rumanian nationals were arrested for the thefts, and after lengthy interrogations one of them admitted that he was a member of a group that had carried out such robberies throughout Spain for several years (presumably going back to a well-publicized robbery of some very valuable manuscripts from a library in Madrid about five years ago).  The man stated that the robberies were organized, and financed, by a Midle East group that sold the items to collectors world-wide.
Upon the arrest, police representatives from Santiago went to Seville to interrogate the prisoners about the Codex ; they professed to have had nothing to do with its robbery, and were of the opinion that  because the Codex could not be sold, owing to its notoriety, it had very probably been destroyed to avoid the possibility of detecting the thieves somehow if it were found.
That opinion caused such consternation that members of the various Friends' Associations in Andalucia proposed a plan to solicit 5 Euros from as many pilgrims as possible in order to amass a fund and pay a sort of ransom for the Codex, as some museums have done to recover stolen stolen art pieces.
Consequently, the news that the Codex has been recovered, could not be more welcome..... although the background details appear murky.
A Cathedral electrician, who had been employed as such for 25 years, was arrested for the theft together with his son, his wife, and his son's girlfriend. Reportedly the electrician had come under suspicion three days after the theft was discovered, presumably because the keys to the safe wherein the Codex was kept were left in its lock (!),  and also because the electrician had sort of a running feud with the Cathedral's Dean whom he had threatened with "ruining his life".
What makes the case curioser and curioser is that the electrician purchased two condominiums, for cash, in the last four years, and owned several other real properties, including garages and the like through the Santiago environs.
The Codex was found in one of the garages, in a plastic bag, and apparently in perfect condition. A search of the various other  properties of the suspect also yielded eight copies of the Codex, several antique religious books of great value, including a "Book of Hours" the disappearance of which had caused great consternation, documents related to those responsible for the Cathedral, including correspondence among them, all sorts of access keys to various parts of the Cathedral, many religious valuable articles, a great number of ancient coins and One Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars in Euros!
It has been speculated that the market value of the Codex, if it were for sale, would be around ten million Euros, and the fee for someone stealing it would be around 150,000.
One can only wonder how long this has been going on and what, or who,  may be behind it. I imagine that there will be continuing investigations.
Meanwhile, I, for one, can only rejoice at the recovery of the Codex....... It is the best news in a while.
Hugs!
Rosina




blaroli at aol.com