Looted Iraqi artifacts seized in London

Three antiques dealers have been arrested in a secret police operation to combat the growing trade in artefacts stolen from Iraq.

Officers from Scotland Yard's Arts and Antiques Unit have recovered a number of valuable pieces stolen from Iraqi museums and archaeological sites since 1990. It follows newly introduced United Nations laws that came into force in Britain in June which make it an offence to be knowingly involved in the importation or exportation of illegally removed Iraqi cultural property.

One of the suspects, a 75-year-old dealer who holds a British passport and is of Iranian descent, was arrested and released on police bail last month during an undercover investigation into a central London antiques gallery.

In connection with that arrest, officers recovered an Assyrian "stone relief" depicting a "sacred winged guardian holding fruit from a sacred tree" worth many thousands of pounds.

The item was looted from the palace of Ashur Nasir-pal II in central Iraq after the first Gulf War of 1991.

Posted by David on October 28, 2003 11:53 AM