Dutch Police Hand over Looted Artifacts
to Iraq
Courtesy of the Penninsula (Qatar News)
26 July 2006
Dutch police have handed
to Iraq three archaeological pieces that
had been stolen in post-war looting,
Iraq's ambassador to the Netherlands
said.
Siamand
Banaa said the stolen pieces-three
ancient clay tablets-were probably taken
from a museum in Iraq. Known as
cuneiforms, the tablets belong to one of
the earliest known forms of written
expression.
They
were among many valuable pieces stolen
from the country before and after the
war in 2003. "Thousands of ancient
artefacts were looted from Iraq after
2003 but also before the liberation,"
Banaa said.
He said police did not give details
about how they had found the looted
pieces, but said that three Iraqis were
involved.
Three
years after the US-led invasion of Iraq
and a widely publicized break-in at the
Baghdad Museum, experts say the country
is a hotbed of antiquities plundering
that threatens to leave huge gaps in the
understanding of its rich history.
Once
called Mesopotamia, Iraq is often
regarded as the cradle of civilization
and the birthplace of cities.
In
spite of efforts by the United Nations
and law enforcement agencies including
the FBI and Interpol to curb ransacking
and trafficking of artefacts, Iraqi
pieces chronicling millennia of human
history are finding their way to private
collections across the world. Once
unearthed, they are smuggled out of the
country through Jordan, Lebanon and
Turkey to Europe and the United States
and flood the black market.
Nineveh On Line Assyrian
Treasures 