http://www.balkaneu.com/40-arrests-thousands-of-items-seized-in-bulgaria-turkey-and-france-in-operation-against-illegal-trade-in-archaeological-objects/
Big successful operation but probably a fraction of whats going on
Still, putting 40 active smugglers and dealers out of action can only help.
Quote from: Patrick Waterson on June 27, 2017, 07:16:13 PM
Still, putting 40 active smugglers and dealers out of action can only help.
It will help at lot. Some of the arrested dealing will roll over and lead investigators to other participants. With a bit if skill and luck, the authorities will be able to close out a large portion of the illegal trade. Still, it's only a start.
agreed. Its underworld stuff so hopefully will lead to a shutting down of various illegal networks for the transmission of stolen artefacts on a potentially global scale.
Sadly, these type of people will always try to find a way to exploit stolen artefacts and if one channel shuts down another will open up somewhere else at some point
Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores here in the states, was recently fined three million dollars and had to return a lot of illegally obtained Iraqi artifacts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/nyregion/hobby-lobby-artifacts-smuggle-iraq.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/nyregion/hobby-lobby-artifacts-smuggle-iraq.html)
ouch....
Clearly lobbying the wrong congressmen.
::) ;D