The Great London:
Libya

  • Libya: Mafia offers rifles to jihadists for Libyan treasures

    Libya: Mafia offers rifles to jihadists for Libyan treasures

    The Italian mafia is selling assault rifles to Islamic State leaders in Libya in return for looted archaeological treasures, according to an Italian newspaper.

    Mafia offers rifles to jihadists for Libyan treasures
    dir="ltr">Leptis Magna, Libya [Credit: AFP]

    The feared ‘Ndrangheta gangsters sell on the priceless artefacts to Russian and Asian collectors.

    La Stampa reports that the Calabrian network, which dominates Europe’s drug trade, works with the Camorra in Naples to buy Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers smuggled out of Ukraine and Moldova by the Russian mafia.

    The armaments are then traded in return for ancient Roman and Greek statues that Isis fighters have dug up illegally in Libya, which was a colony of the two ancient cultures. Isis has ruled over swathes of the country for months.

    A journalist from La Stampa posed as a collector to be taken to a salami factory in southern Italy by a member of an ‘Ndrangheta clan from Lamezia in Calabria. For $87,000 he was offered the marble head of a Roman sculpture looted from Libya.

    The Mafioso also showed photographs of a larger head from a Greek statue, for sale at $1.2 million.

    Antiquities are brought from Libya to the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro by Chinese-operated cargo ships, it is claimed. The treasures are sold on to collectors from Russia, China, Japan and the Gulf. After expanding into Libya, Isis has been pinned back by local militias. The jihadists, however, are believed to have tried to profit from trafficking in artefacts, as they have done in Iraq and Syria.

    Libyan archaeologists working to protect the country’s five UNESCO-listed sites have received death threats.

    Italian investigators have long suspected the mafia of selling guns to Isis. “In Naples, Islamic militias and the Camorra have been trading guns and drugs since the 1990s,” a veteran investigator said yesterday (Sunday).

    The gangsters have also been involved in the wholesale looting of Etruscan Roman tombs in Italy. Trading guns for artefacts with Isis is a natural evolution of its business. The widespread excavation and selling of Greek and Roman treasures boomed in Libya after the death in 2011 of Colonel Gaddafi, well before the arrival of Isis.

    A rare 4ft marble statue believed to have been dug up in the ancient city of Cyrene in 2011 and worth $3.2 million was found in a west London warehouse two years after the uprising.

    Susan Kane, a Libyan expert at Oberlin College in Ohio, said: “There was a major land grab after the revolution and more earth has been moved since 2011 than in the preceding centuries. Antiquities are turning up and there is a great synergy between trafficking them, drugs and arms.”

    Author: Tom Kington | Source: The Times [October 17, 2016]

  • UK: Court examines Libyan sculpture at British Museum

    UK: Court examines Libyan sculpture at British Museum
    A court convened at the British Museum on Monday for the first time to enable a judge to inspect a £2million sculpture looted from Libya.

    Court examines Libyan sculpture at British Museum
    The marble statue is said to have been illegally dug up in Cyrene 
    [Credit: National News]

    The "unique" four foot marble statue is said to have been illegally dug up in Cyrene, a UNESCO world heritage site, before being smuggled to the UK in 2011, via Dubai.
    It was uncovered in a west London warehouse by customs officials two years later and handed to the British Museum pending a court's decision over ownership.
    District Judge John Zani, who is overseeing the case at Westminster Magistrates Court, was given a detailed analysis of the sculpture during a two hour viewing at the museum.
    Accompanied by barristers, solicitors and his legal adviser, the judge carefully examined the statue as he was told stains and other evidence demonstrated that it was “definitely” excavated illegally from the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene.
    The statue, which depicts a Greek woman wearing a hood and flowing gown, is said to be unparalleled besides a single comparable example in the Louvre. The woman wears two snake-like bracelets and carries a doll.
    It hails from the third centuries BC, when it served as a grave marker.
    Authorities in Tripoli have already launched a bid to repatriate the work of art.
    A British Museum spokesperson said that as far as they were aware it was the first time a court had convened on the premises.
    Jordanian, Riad Al Qassas, who does not reside in the UK, is accused of falsifying paperwork after telling customs that the sculpture came from Turkey, rather than Libya, and was worth £60,000, rather than between £1.5m to £2m.
    He denies one count of knowingly or recklessly delivering a false document to HMRC on November 1 last year.
    Dr Peter Higgs, curator of Greek sculpture at the British Museum, told District Judge Zani the statue looked “fresh” and had been excavated “fairly recently”.
    Highlighting earth stains and marks from vegetation, he pointed to “small pickaxe” marks as the judge circled the statue, studying it closely in a tiny store-room.
    A video of the viewing was later played in court.
    Dr Higgs said: “The statue is a three-quarter length figure. It is a funerary statue that I believe comes from the region of Cyrenaica, in Libya, which was a Greek colony.
    “The statue is thought to represent either Persephone, the goddess of the underworld...or it is meant to be someone who is dedicated to the goddess. I believe it is very unlikely to come from Turkey.”
    Dr Higgs said the statue was one of a kind, adding that it was in “the top ten” of its class.
    “I believe that the statue was definitely made in Libya, in Cyrenaica,” he added.
    “I believe, as I said, it is one of the best examples of its type and is extremely rare.”
    Andrew Bird, for HMRC, has told the court that documents suggest Al Qassas had only a marginal role in the export.
    He claimed Hassan Fazeli, a Dubai businessman who has claimed the sculpture has belonged to his family collection since 1977, was behind the crime.
    Mr Bird said the false documents were submitted by Hassan Fazeli Trading Company LLC, which is based in Dubai, and which was last year accused by New York prosecutors of illegally bringing five ancient Egypt artefacts into the USA.
    Ben Watson, representing Al Qassas, indicated his client would be happy to hand over the sculpture to Libya if it was shown to originate from there.
    Libya has been plagued by looting and cultural vandalism since the fall of Colonel Gadaffi in 2011, with the resulting power vacuum effectively ending the state-sponsored preservation of Libya's multiple Greek and Roman sites.
    The expansion of Islamic State fanatics into North Africa has stoked fears that unique sites will be destroyed, mirroring shocking images from the IS-controlled city of Mosul in Iraq.
    A British Museum spokesperson said that as far as they were aware it was the first time a court had convened on its premises.
    Author: Victoria Ward | Source: The Telegraph [March 31, 2015]

  • Libya: Looted Greek statue belongs to Libya rules UK judge

    Libya: Looted Greek statue belongs to Libya rules UK judge

    An ancient Greek sculpture worth £1.5m was “unlawfully excavated” from a world heritage site in Libya and brought to the UK, a judge has ruled.

    Looted Greek statue belongs to Libya rules UK judge
    It is believed to be of Greek goddess Demeter 
    or her daughter Persephone [Credit: PA]

    The 4ft marble statue was dug up in the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene before being smuggled into Britain in 2011, according to evidence at Westminster magistrates’ court, London.

    It was discovered in a west London warehouse by customs officials two years later and handed to the British Museum, pending a court’s decision over its ownership.

    Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said the statue was “misdeclared” on arrival to the UK after border officials were told it was from Turkey. But Jordanian national Riad Al Qassas claimed the sculpture – which experts believe dates to the 3rd or 4th centuries BC – belonged  to him.

    District Judge John Zani yesterday ruled that the sculpture was owned by “the state of Libya”. HMRC said it would take steps to return the statue to its “rightful owners”.

    Dr Peter Higgs, a curator at the British Museum, had valued the statue at £1.5m-£2m. It is believed to be of Greek goddess Demeter or her daughter Persephone.

    Source: Press Association [September 03, 2015]

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  5. Greek antiquities travel to Marseille