Australian police alert dealers after Roman theft

Australian police have notified international auction houses and Interpol to be on the lookout for ancient Roman artefacts stolen from one of Australia's top universities.

The artefacts date back to the time of the Emperor Augustus, and include a bronze sculpture of a head which researchers believe could be the image of the emperor's sister Olivia, or wife Livia.

Australian Federal Police investigator Matt Neesham said yesterday that the thieves would find it difficult to take the stolen objects out of the country because of the international police and customs alerts.

"All border checks will be conducted, and anybody who thinks that they should be able to get them out of the country would find it very hard," Mr Neesham told Australian radio.

The thieves stole the bronze head, a gold necklace, gold earrings, a gold ring with an engraved head, and a vase during a overnight break-in at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

But Sydney antiquities dealer Maurizzio Bottaro said the bronze head was extremely rare and valuable.

He said he knew of no other Roman bronze head in Australia. He said the robbery would likely have been committed to fill an order from a collector.

"For something like that, something has to be ordered from somewhere," Mr Bottaro told Reuters.

He said Australia had only six or seven antiquities dealers, and most of the major buyers were well known.

Whoever was behind the theft would be unable to display the objects because the artefacts would be too easy to identify, Mr Bottaro said.