LONDON — A gang of well-organized thieves stole rare books worth nearly £2 million in London last month, just days before the antiques were due to be flown to the US for an event. <br /> <br />Three thieves climbed onto the roof of a storage facility near Heathrow airport between Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, and drilled holes into the reinforced glass-fiber skylights, the Guardian reported. <br /> <br />The trio rappelled 40 feet down while avoiding the warehouse’s motion sensor alarms. <br /> <br />The gang then sifted through four containers of antique books, checking the titles against stock lists and taking only those they wanted. <br /> <br />Early works by Galileo, Da Vinci, and Isaac Newton were among those taken, but the jewel in the haul was a 1566 second edition copy of “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” or “On the Revolutions” by Nicolaus Copernicus, worth £215,000. <br /> <br />A total of 160 books were taken from the facility, and put in bags. The bags were pulled up to the roof with a rope before then being lowered to a waiting van, according to Sky News. <br /> <br />Authorities speculate that the books were stolen to order, since it would be impossible to sell them for a hefty price on the regular market.
