ISIS sold more than 100 artifacts to British smugglers, says Washington Post

(IraqiNew.com) On Sunday, experts involved in the fight against illicit traffic in cultural property revealed that 100 artifacts have been looted from Syria and Iraq by the ISIS group and were smuggled into the United Kingdom.

‘The Washington Post’ wrote, “Almost 100 Syrian artifacts looted by the Islamic State have been smuggled into Britain and sold to raise money for the extremist group’s activities.”

“The items, allegedly being sold in London, include gold and silver Byzantine coins as well as Roman pottery and glass worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the newspaper added.

Director of the Art Recovery International, Christopher Marenilo said, “One item alone could be worth tens of thousands of dollars, but the more valuable and unique the item, the more scrutiny there will be, and so collectors tended to shy away from more valuable items,” adding that, “The trade then tended to be in middle-value objects that don’t stand out.”