More than 100 nabbed in global crackdown on artefacts trade
Police have arrested 101 people and recovered 19,000 stolen artefacts within an international crackdown on gangs trafficking art stolen from war-stricken countries, museums and archaeological sites, Interpol said Wednesday.
The massive operation, carried out in 103 countries, resulted in seizures of coins from different periods, archaeological objects, ceramics, historical weapons, paintings and fossils, the global police agency said in a statement.
Among others, Afghan customs officials seized 971 cultural objects at Kabul airport because they were going to depart for Istanbul.
Spanish police, working with their Colombian counterparts, recovered several rare pre-Columbian objects acquired through looting, including a unique Tumaco gold mask, gold figurines and ancient jewellery.
"Three traffickers were arrested in Spain, and the Colombian authorities carried out house searches in Bogota, leading to the seizure of a further 242 pre-Columbian objects, the greatest ever seizure in the country's history," said the statement.
Argentinian police seized 2,500 ancient coins while investigating an online sale and Latvian police another 1,375 coins.
"Organised crime has many faces," said Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock.
"The trafficking of cultural goods is one of these: it isn't a glamorous business run by flamboyant gentlemen forgers, but by international criminal networks.
"You cannot look at it separately from combating trafficking in drugs and weapons: we realize that the same groups are engaged, since it generates big money."
The trade in artefacts also presents opportunities for the money laundering and fraud and financing organised crime networks, said Stock.
Some 300 investigations have already been opened within the crackdown coordinated by the World Customs Organization, Interpol and Europol.
"Police officers paid particular focus on the monitoring of online market places and sales sites, as the web is an important section of the illicit trade of cultural goods," said the statement.
In total, 8,670 cultural objects designed for online sale were seized -- almost a third of the full total number of artefacts recovered in the operation.
"Given that that is a worldwide phenomenon affecting every country on earth -- either as a source, transit or destination, it is very important that law enforcement all work together to combat it," said Interpol. -- AFP
