Priceless Chinese works of art stolen in audacious robberies from galleries and museum in Britain and Europe are thought to be ending up in private collections belonging to Beijing billionaires.

Experts believe some artefacts are being stolen to order in the UK with the possibility that a new breed of Chinese super-rich are trying to reclaim their country’s heritage looted by invading armies, including British soldiers, during the Opium Wars of the 19th Century.

A series of heists dating back at least eight years are thought to be connected to a black market boom in the sale of stolen Oriental artefacts.

One of the first thefts believed to specifically target Chinese works took place in 2010 when a gang smashed their way into the Swedish Royal Family’s Chinese Pavilion stealing items from the state collection of art and antiquities.

A few month later, thieves grabbed 56 items from the China Collection at the KODE Museum, in Bergen, Norway. Many of the pieces targeted had been collected by a Norwegian serving military officer in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries.