Antiquities Smuggling in the Real and Virtual World

Layla Hashemi, Louise Shelley, Layla Hashemi, Louise Shelley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780367902018
• eBook ISBN: 9781000516593
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book examines the illicit trade in antiquities, a trade which has increased massively following the destruction and looting of ancient Near Eastern sites in the Middle East. Focusing on the distribution networks for looted antiquities, especially the routes to the West, the book considers the dealers and facilitators who are key in getting the objects to market, explores the methods used including online marketplaces and social media sites, analyses demand and buyers, revealing that objects are often available at very affordable prices. It outlines the efforts of law enforcement agencies, including the military, and legal systems to contain the trade. Throughout the book highlights the difficulties of putting a stop to this illicit trade, particularly in a conflict region.

Part I

Setting the Context

DOI: 10.4324/9781003023043-1

Introduction

Layla Hashemi and Louise Shelley

DOI: 10.4324/9781003023043-2

With the recent intensive destruction and looting of ancient Near Eastern sites in the Middle East, the illicit trafficking of artifacts deriving from countries such as Syria and Iraq have flooded onto the illegal art market and online auction platforms. This has caused irreparable damage and loss to the cultural heritage of the people of these countries and the international community. Therefore, our ability to advance our understanding of history in this region, often referred to as the cradle of civilization, represents a future loss to the shared history of mankind. The accelerated destruction of recent years is a manmade act whose consequences will only be understood in coming decades as we fully appreciate the loss of ancient material culture to our understanding of history.

There are clear patterns to this destruction and trade. Illicit trade in antiquities grows at times of conflict. This is not exclusively a problem of the Middle East, the focus of this collection. The problem of the illegal trade of antiquities is also underway in North and West Africa, regions also affected by terrorism, conflict and instability (Stanyard and Dhaouadi 2020).

The illicit antiquities trade, as will be discussed in the book’s chapters, involves diverse actors along the supply chain ranging from amateurs, criminals and terrorists who are involved in the massive looting that have left the region pockmarked by the hasty digging and excavation of coins, tablets, jewelry and household items of antiquity. Dealers and facilitators are key in delivering objects to market. At certain periods, these actors operate as individuals or networks of illicit entrepreneurs, at other points they have functioned under license from ISIS and other terrorist groups (Sargent et al. 2020;15; Westcott 2020). This volume examines diverse actors, routes and methods of sales as well as the means that military, law enforcement and legal systems use to address and investigate and disrupt this trade. It addresses the networks behind this illicit trade and the convergence of illicit trade with the legitimate economy as recognized art sellers market these looted goods and online marketplaces facilitate their sale.

The antiquities market is a small share of the global illicit economy. But there are some illicit items traded for which the value of the object does not reflect the loss. These priceless items are non-renewable and irreplaceable. For example, in the wildlife trade, the tusks of a rhino may be sold for several hundred thousand dollars, a significant sum but nothing compared to the extinction of a species which is advanced by the killing of the animal. A similar analogy may be made for the antiquities trade. The sale of looted ancient coins on a website may yield considerably less profit than a rhino tusk but the loss to our historical understanding is great. The looting of ancient sites and the sale and dispersion of objects such as coins undermines our ability to understand history, the nature of trade and the interactions among peoples since antiquity. The money derived from this loss is inconsequential compared to the shared loss of our understanding of history and culture.

This volume on illicit antiquities trade is unique. Its authors come from a variety of fields providing a truly multi-disciplinary perspective. Yet it is also distinctive in its historical scope in that it spans over four millennia from the illicit trade in antiquities to the modern cyber-enabled trade in antique art and coins that has vastly increased in recent decades, particularly the last ten years. The ancient coin market is an integral part of the antiquities trade and is indeed the largest part of it in terms of volume (Elkins 2008, 2012).

Experts of ancient history reveal that the history of crime in the ancient Middle East has remarkable similarities to the present. We find that human beings since antiquity have engaged in smuggling and illicit trade. School children learn about the raiders of tombs in ancient Egypt who stole valuable items from the burial sites of previous civilizations. Neither is counterfeiting a new phenomenon as even in ancient times commodities were counterfeited to enhance profits and increase market share. As historians Ira Spar and Antonietta Catanzariti write in their chapter,

During the Neo-Babylonian period (6^th century B.C.E.), priests of the temple of the Sun god in the ancient city of Sippar, forged a stone monument purported to be from the time of Manishtushu, king of Akkad (23^rd century B.C.E.) granting the priests the rights to certain lands and privileges. The text ended with the statement, “this is not a lie.”¹

Forgeries also date back millennia. Spar and Catanzariti point out with lively quotes from ancient documents that illicit traders have historically evaded law enforcement personnel and trade regulators to enhance profits and engage in forbidden sales.

Smuggling and tax evasion were common in ancient times. Merchant letters reveal that smugglers bribed guards, deceived customs officials by making false import declarations, and mixed cleared goods with non-taxed merchandise to avoid additional import payments. Houses were raided by government officials to find smuggled goods and smugglers’ penalties ranged from a fine to house arrest or even possible incarceration.

The chapters of this book reveal that with present day antiquities smuggling we are dealing with a problem of transnational crime. As in many other forms of illicit trade, antiquities smugglers and sellers rely on false documents and forgeries. They falsify the provenance of the objects and many have perfected the art of copying faithfully from the originals. Free-trade zones are often key elements of the supply chain to obscure the origins and the goods. Sometimes, the objects are stored in free trade zones or warehouses for extended periods, the sellers hoping that the stolen object recedes from the memory of the source country or law enforcement that has pursued it.

Looted antiquities may also be laundered as they are combined with the goods sold by licensed dealers. Dr. Gerstenblith discusses the central role played by Israeli dealers in the sale of antiquities in the famous Hobby Lobby case (Department of Justice 2017). After a recent discovery of many stolen antiquities in Israel, Amir Ganor, head of the theft prevention unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, commented on Israel that

It is one of the only countries around the Mediterranean basin where the law enables antiquities merchants to obtain a license to sell. At the moment, there are 47 licensed antiquities dealers. So, if one has illegal antiquities and slips them into the inventory of a licensed trader, they’re effectively whitewashed.

(Schuster 2021)

Like many other illicit commodities, the illicit antiquities trade involves cross-border networks that blend elements of the legal and illegal commercial world. These networks may smuggle much more than antiquities. While working against nuclear smuggling in Turkey in the early 2000s, one contributor to this collection had his counter-proliferation unit uncover an antique object moved along with nuclear materials. Although this convergence of crimes is rarely so lethal, antiquities can easily pass through borders when the wheels have already been greased and border and customs officials will turn a blind eye to the passage of contraband. Therefore, corruption is absolutely key to the movement of looted and smuggled antiquities.

Yet the antiquities trade is distinctive from other forms of illicit trade with which it may intersect. Many of the buyers in this world of high-end illegal antiquities are powerful and wealthy individuals, as Patty Gerstenblith’s chapter reveals. Moreover, high end items can be purchased from high-end dealers who differ dramatically from the transnational criminals who control the drug and human trafficking trade. Much of the analysis focuses on the supply chains flowing to western countries but successful examples of countering the trade reveal a broader range of destinations. In case studies reported to a recent G20 meeting hosted by Italy on the protection of cultural heritage and illicit trafficking, speakers reported on successful investigations involving the Middle East and Far East Asia which are different from the analyses presented in this book.

International cooperation also involves the return of cultural objects to their country of origin. For example in 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi, represented by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) the country returned historical Iraqi documents in implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transport of Ownership of Cultural Property which was ratified by Saudi Arabia in 1976 (Saudi Gazette 2019; Almalaq 2021).

A very complex transnational case was successfully investigated by French authorities as antiquities trafficked from the Middle East transited through a major French airport. In a joint investigation by French police and customs in cooperation with customs and law enforcement in Lebanon and Thailand, investigators were able to identify individuals involved in the supply chain trafficking Syrian stones from Lebanon to Thailand through France. The stones were identified by experts at the Louvre Museum as likely coming from a Christian church in Syria, though the particular church was unknown, with a destination of a gallery in Thailand. Cooperation between French judicial investigators and police specializing in cultural property and counterfeits revealed suppliers in the Middle East and the recipients in Thailand. Using Lebanon customs information, investigators identified the sender of the stones as a Syrian citizen based in Lebanon and Turkey who had recently sent stones from Lebanon to Thailand. With Thai police information, investigators identified associates of a Bangkok art gallery affiliated with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. In France, investigators also identified a French man with connections to Thailand who likely facilitated the trafficking of the stones (Payraud 2021). This complex network reveals the truly international cooperation needed to address the antiquities trade that can follow circuitous routes to its destination.

The cyber environment has democratized the antiquities trade. Previously, the trade consisted of niche networks of those associated with galleries and auction houses. While the trade was transnational, there were high barriers to entry preventing the average person from becoming involved. Today’s antiquities market has been democratized by the internet and online platforms that allow for the free and often open sale of cultural property and the availability of ancient goods, particularly coins, often at affordable prices. Therefore, what was once a high-end and exclusive commodity is now available to a wide-ranging customer base. This is discussed in Chapter 8 “Investigating the Online Trade of Illicit Antiquities” and is a particular focus of the Hashemi and Waddell.

Despite the expansion of buyers and sellers, illegal antiquities sales have not been prioritized by law enforcement in the United States or Eur...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• PART I: Setting the Context
• PART II: The Illicit Antiquities Trade
• PART III: Antiquities Trade in the Cyberworld
• Index