<p>ROME — 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.</p>
<p>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 Carabinieri art squad said in a statement Monday.</p>
<p>The “Togatus” statue, featuring a headless Roman wearing a draped toga, has a value of 100,000 euro. It was stolen in November 2011 from the Villa Marini Dettina archaeological site on the outskirts of the capital, the statement said.</p>
<p>Two members of the art squad’s archaeological unit were on assignment in Brussels when they took a walk after work in the Sablon neighborhood that is known for its antiques shops. They spotted a marble statue that they suspected was from Italy, and confirmed their suspicions when they cross-referenced the work with a database of known stolen antiquities, the statement said.</p>
<p>Italy for decades has worked to recover looted antiquities that have ended up in private collections, famous museums and commercial antique shops around the world.</p>
