The seizure is part of an ongoing investigation into “a smuggling network” trafficking antiquities looted from Turkey.
antiquities trafficking
Posted inArt
Three Antiquities Traffickers and Their Fall From Grace
Amid a spate of high-profile repatriations of looted cultural objects, we took a closer look at some of the most infamous players in the illicit market.
Posted inNews
Challenging a 50-Year-Old Factoid About the Illegal Antiquities Trade
The assertion that the illicit antiquities trade is “the world’s third largest, second only to arms and narcotics” is unsubstantiated and damaging, a new paper argues.
Posted inNews
Looted Antiquities Seized by DA Belonged to Met Trustee
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office recovered 23 looted objects from Shelby White’s home over the last year and a half.
Posted inNews
Manhattan DA’s Office Is After Its Own Antiquities Trafficking Informant
Lebanese art dealer Georges Lotfi, who once helped authorities seize looted antiquities, is now accused of doing his own share of trafficking too.
Posted inNews
Louvre Advisors Detained in Art Trafficking Investigation
The news comes after former Louvre President Jean-Luc Martinez was charged in May with concealing the origins of illegally smuggled Egyptian antiquities.
Posted inNews
NY District Attorney’s Office Seizes Allegedly Looted Antiquities From the Met
The five ancient Egyptian works, worth over $3M, may be tied to an international trafficking ring.
Posted inNews
23 Arrested and 10,000 Artifacts Seized in Crackdown on Archaeological Trafficking Ring
A sophisticated organized crime group used bulldozers and advanced metal detectors to excavate ancient artifacts in southern Italy, and deployed facilitators across Europe to traffic them.
Posted inIn Brief
18,000 Illegally Trafficked Cultural Goods Seized in an International Crackdown
Operation Pandora III, carried out by the Spanish Civil Guard, Europol, Interpol, and the World Customs Organization, included a special focus on illicit online trafficking. 59 individuals were arrested in the operation.
Posted inArt
How Social Media is Allowing for Illegal Antiquities Trafficking
The Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research (ATHAR) Project has published a critical report on West Asian antiquities trafficking taking place more or less out in the open on Facebook.
Posted inNews
UN Security Council Takes Aim at ISIS Antiquities Trafficking
Last week the United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution to curb the trade of looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria. UN Security Council Resolution 2199 prohibits the trade of artifacts illegally removed from Syria since 2011 and Iraq since 1990.
Posted inNews
German Media May Corroborate $36M Islamic State Antiquities Trafficking
There is significant evidence that illicit antiquities trading contributes to paramilitary funding. It does not happen everywhere, all the time, but it does happen.
