The thief was caught and the police . . . . . . . . the stolen goods from him.

The verb that fits grammatically and semantically in the sentence is "recovered," which means to retrieve something that was lost or stolen. In the context of the sentence, the police are taking back or regaining possession of the stolen goods from the thief.

Therefore, the correct completion is: "The thief was caught and the police recovered the stolen goods from him."