ITALY: Court of Palermo dismisses charges of mafia association against Gianfranco Becchina.

From the art-crime.blogspot.com; published October 24, 2018. Following a formal request by the Deputy Prosecutor for the District Anti-Mafia Directorate  Carlo Marzella, preliminary reexamination judge of of the Court of Palermo, Antonella Consiglio, has dismissed the charge of mafia association against the Castelvetrano antiquities dealer Gianfranco Becchina.  In her decision, the judge cited that the accusations used for the…

Spain: Rare archaeological artefacts seized by police

By Dilip Kuner,October 11, 2018, in Euroweeklynews. Four people have been arrested for allegedly being complicit in the plundering of an archaeological site in Spain. Guardia Civil officers have recovered 92 rare Celtiberian pieces said to be of ‘great historical value’. They have been taken to a museum in Burgos to be studied, restored and…

Bulgaria: Оrganised crime group for trade in cultural artefacts dismantled

Sofia. Four persons have been charged with involvement in an organised crime group for illicit trade in cultural artefacts, it transpired at a press briefing in the Special Criminal Court today, Focus News Agency reports. Expert reports confirmed that the objects found are cultural artefacts of historical significance. The unique items are made of gold…

How Facebook Made It Easier Than Ever to Traffic Middle Eastern Antiquities

Article published at worldpoliticsreview.com on August 14, 2018. Written by Amr Al-Azm and Katie A. Paul The instability that followed the Arab uprisings of 2010 and 2011 has given rise to some of the most devastating conflicts the Middle East has ever seen. Syria and Iraq, in particular, have suffered from the dismantling of state infrastructure…

GREECE: Verdict on the Schinoussa case and intimidation of witness part 2

As recently noted, on July 26, 2018, the 3-Member Appeal Penal Court of Athens gave its verdict on the Schinoussa case, in which Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis has been one of the main witnesses for the Greek State against the Papadimitriou family (heir of the dealer Christos Michaelides, partner of Robin Symes, antiquities dealers). After sending (27.07.2018)…

UK: The British Museum’s ‘Looting’ Problem

By Josephine Livingstone, from The New Republic, August 14, 2018 This weekend, headlines across the internet announced that the British Museum was to “return looted antiquities to Iraq.” Eight tiny artifacts, some of them 5,000 years old, were handed to Iraqi officials in a ceremony on Friday, to be transported to the National Museum of…

Buying or Selling Antiquities Can Assist Terrorism

A worth to read article by John Byrne, published July 20, 2018, at the AML-Homepage. (AML is the leading firm solely focused on Anti-Money laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and financial crimes compliance solution). After so many years of following the AML community and being a part of that great group, it is hard…

GREECE: Verdict on the Schinoussa case & intimidation of witness

On July 26, 2018, the 3-Member Appeal Penal Court of Athens gave its verdict on the Schinoussa case, in which Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis has been one of the main witnesses for the Greek State against the Papadimitriou family (heir of the dealer Christos Michaelides, partner of Robin Symes, antiquities dealers). According to an email from…

Artefacts worth €40m recovered in raids across Europe

By John Phillips (Rome) and Justin Huggler (Berlin) for the Telegraph, July 4, 2018. Police have arrested an international ring of traffickers alleged to have smuggled thousands of stolen Sicilian archaeological treasures worth more than £30 million to collectors and auction houses across Europe. A British art dealer and 20 Italians have been arrested, along…