Italian police have uncovered a large-scale pan-European forgery network making and selling fake artworks attributed to some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso,

Some 38 people across are under investigation on suspicion of conspiracy to handle stolen goods, forgery, and illegal sale of artworks.

Police seized hundreds of millions of euros worth of forged paintings attributed to Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Banksy and others. The suspects allegedly attempted to sell the artworks at auction houses.

Italian authorities say they have dismantled a network of European art forgers who made fake Warhols, Banksys and Picassos and then tried to sell them with the help of complicit auction houses.

The fake art included forged works by Banksy, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. The operation, led by Pisa's Chief Prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio, marks a major blow to art crime in Europe.

Over 2,100 pieces of forged artwork were recovered, which were supposedly by Banksy, Salvador Dalí, Gustav Klimt, Joan Miró, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso, and were potentially worth about €200m (£165m). Thirty eight people across Italy, Spain, and Belgium have been arrested over the forgeries and its illegal sale.

38 people across Europe are suspected of involvement in a sweeping scheme to create and sell fake works attributed to Banksy, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol, among other marquee 19th, 20th, and 21st century artists, Italian authorities revealed on Monday.

Stefano Antonelli, the founder of the Banksy Study Centre and Archive Foundation, says that most of the Banksy works confiscated were stamped “Dismaland”, the dystopian theme park opened by the notorious street artist in Weston-super-Mare, UK, in 2015.

Investigators discovered six forgery workshops and seized more than 2,100 fake artworks with a potential market value of about $215 million.

The operation uncovered a network of forgers in Spain, France and Belgium who produced the works, said Eurojust, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation.