Europe’s Pandora is in action to crack down on illegal cultural relics trafficking.
Some cultural relics seized in the operation (data map)
On July 29th, Europol released a message in official website, saying that the European joint action against international cultural relics crimes — — The "Pandora 3" campaign has achieved initial results. Up to now, 59 suspects have been arrested and 18,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics have been seized.
"Pandora 3" was jointly participated by law enforcement agencies and customs of 29 countries, supported by Interpol, the World Customs Organization and Europol, and coordinated by the Spanish National Guard. It was a large-scale joint action against international cultural relics crimes, and it had many experiences worth learning in the field of transnational joint action against cultural relics crimes.
Offline and online separately "cast the net"
During the "Pandora 3" operation, the relevant law enforcement agencies sent thousands of police and customs staff, focusing on online and hot markets and targeting criminal groups involved in cultural relics trafficking. Since the launch of the operation, 59 suspects have been arrested and 18,000 cultural relics (sets) have been seized, including antique furniture, ancient coins and paintings, musical instruments and sculptures. In addition, the operation also seized cultural relics theft tools including metal detectors. According to statistics, most of the cultural relics seized come from Europe, and a small part belong to Colombia, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and other countries.
Europol said that the biggest challenge encountered in this operation is to crack down on online illegal cultural relics trafficking. It is understood that in recent years, cultural relics criminal groups have increasingly used online platforms such as web pages, social media and instant messaging applications to sell illegally stolen or trafficked cultural relics. In this regard, in the "Pandora 3" action, the organizers specially launched a multidisciplinary law enforcement action. Under this action framework, the Dutch police took the lead in organizing the "Cyber Patrol Week", where a team of 26 experts identified suspicious targets and conducted targeted intelligence gathering. In the end, the operation locked 169 suspicious websites and seized 682 suspicious cultural relics.
At the same time, offline, 29 countries participating in the "Pandora 3" operation organized many raids: searching auction houses, art galleries, museums and private houses, imposing 67 administrative sanctions and arresting 49 suspects; Through the inspection of ports, airports and border crossings, four criminal suspects were arrested, three responsible persons were administratively punished, and 201 suspicious cultural relics were seized; Through surprise inspections of hot crime sites such as archaeological sites, 6 suspects were arrested, 909 cultural relics were seized, and 49 people were responsible for administrative punishment.
Multi-party linkage to accumulate synergy
As a joint action to crack down on cultural relics crimes in Europe, "Pandora 3" handed over a remarkable and frightening report card. As the overall coordination unit of the operation, the Spanish National Guard has created a record of seizing 10,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics in a single operation; Experienced Italian cultural relics police seized 91 ancient ceramics and 109 precious ancient coins in many private houses and mailing centers. In addition, during the operation, the Polish police seized an ancient rare Bible stolen in Germany 25 years ago and returned it to the stolen country. Romanian police seized 128 military supplies in ancient Rome, 134 ancient ceramics and 189 coins stolen from archaeological sites in ancient Greece and Rome. German customs seized a cylindrical crystal seal, which was identified as belonging to Mesopotamian civilization … …
In the "Pandora 3" operation, Europol, Interpol and the World Customs Organization, as international backup forces, provided many support to countries. Relevant organizations not only set up coordination departments to participate in specific actions and provide analysis report support, but also open and share data and information resources and issue warning information in time. In particular, it is through Interpol’s "Stolen Art Database" that countries have conducted hundreds of targeted searches.
It can be said that the "Pandora" series of actions launched in recent years have effectively cracked down on international illegal cultural relics trafficking. In 2017, European multinational police jointly launched the "Pandora" operation for the first time. The operation was coordinated by the police in Spain and Cyprus, and more than 48,500 people were inspected, 50 ships and 29,000 vehicles were searched. A number of deep-water diving schools were mainly investigated to combat the theft of underwater sites, and 75 suspects were arrested and 3,561 pieces (sets) of cultural relics were recovered, many of which were of outstanding value after textual research. In 2018, Pandora 2 arrested 51 suspects and seized 41,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics.
Piracy and sale of cultural relics are rampant
Endanger the cultural heritage of all countries.
Due to various reasons, the crime of stealing and reselling cultural relics has existed for a long time in Europe and has become increasingly rampant in recent years. Europe is not the only region where such crimes occur frequently. According to the survey, until the beginning of this year, on various online social media platforms such as Facebook, there were still cultural relics publicly looted from the Middle East by members of extremist organizations for sale. According to the BBC, in July this year, Sabhash Kapoor, a well-known art dealer in new york, USA, was accused of being involved in a transnational cultural relics piracy network. According to the investigation, the total value of cultural relics stolen through this network exceeds 145 million US dollars; According to The New York Times, at the end of July, Israeli police found and arrested two thieves who stole cultural relics … … In addition, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently held a special cultural relics exhibition in Baghdad. The exhibits were all stolen cultural relics from the country recently recovered from Britain and Sweden.
"The cultural relics market is special. Illegally stolen cultural relics are often sold together with legally circulated cultural relics, and even well-intentioned collectors cannot effectively distinguish them." A western archaeologist pointed out.
The cultural heritage of countries all over the world is fatally damaged by cultural relics piracy. Experts pointed out that cultural relics are an irreplaceable part when people obtain corresponding historical information through archaeology. When these cultural relics are plundered and illegally sold only because of their economic value, people should not ignore their connection with the environment of the heritage site and other cultural relics as a part of the cultural heritage. As we all know, in the process of archaeological excavation, people need to carefully record information fragments, and then understand the value and significance of cultural relics. Without background information, coins and ceramic utensils are just beautiful objects on display shelves, and eventually lose the important function of allowing people to obtain richer historical information. (China Culture News reporter Song Jia Wei)