In a statement, the PJ said that "after intense work of gathering information and investigation", the force had located and seized "an important document, that goes back to the seventeenth century, related to the municipality of Penedono.

"It is a book of Atas de Vereação (Acts of Vereaction), for the period between 1657 and 1662, containing 240 handwritten pages, belonging to the collection of the municipality of Penedono that had been taken for reasons not yet clarified," the police said.

According to the police, the document was identified "by alerts from the District Archive of Viseu and by the Municipality of Penedono, after being put on sale on the Internet".

Considering "the relevance of the document, of undetermined value", the PJ opened an inquiry and "immediately took steps for its recovery".

"The document was seized from its owner, a trader in Torre de Moncorvo, and will be subject to competent forensic expertise and authenticity determination", the police added.