WASHINGTON, 23 April 2003 — Stolen art and artifacts looted from Iraq’s museums have begun to move on worldwide markets, US law enforcement officials said Monday, and at least two pieces of art believed to have been stolen have been stopped by the Customs Service at the US border.
One of the two pieces — apparently a painting — was seized by customs after a cursory investigation revealed “suspicious circumstances,” and Mesopotamian art specialists deemed it likely stolen, one law enforcement official said. The second piece, and possibly others, are under examination by US officials.
Authorities at the Customs Service declined to comment on the investigation.
Additionally, the FBI’s stolen art department has begun to pick up information from contacts in an elite group of international buyers and sellers specializing in Mesopotamian, Asian and Middle Eastern art.
Lynn Chaffinch, manager of the FBI’s art theft program, who is leading the bureau’s efforts to help recover the art, said that several contacts have reported hearing about priceless items being transported across Middle Eastern countries — likely headed for the United States, Europe and Japan where the money and buyers are.
Specialists say they believe that more than 50 percent of stolen art worldwide winds up in the United States.
Chaffinch and art theft experts from Interpol are eager for approval from the Defense Department to send investigators into Baghdad to begin the laborious process of cataloging missing items.
Most of the museum’s records were destroyed in the looting.
Without a catalog of items, law enforcement agents and art dealers worldwide will not know exactly what to look for. And unless a theft is documented, Chaffinch said, officials can do little to recover an object once it’s in the United States.
Interpol, the international police organization , has sent a response team to Kuwait to await permission to enter Iraq. The US office of Interpol is also holding an international conference in Lyon, France, on May 5 and 6 to coordinate efforts.
