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On June 17, Interpol held a conference in Lyon, France, to increase co-operation among its 186 member nations in the fight to retrieve stolen cultural property. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the rise of the Internet and the globalization of the world economy, trade in stolen art and antiquities has been rising steeply.
Interpol is the international police agency through which countries share information on international crime. Of the missing art objects now on Interpol's list, 516 were taken from Canadian collections.
The number of art thefts in Canada has been growing, the most notable being the robbery in 2004 of five ivory statuettes from the Art Gallery of Ontario snatched in broad daylight. They are worth almost $1.5-million and were eventually returned to the owner. The gallery's insurer offered a reward of $150,000. After the police said that "persons of interest" had been spotted on a video, a criminal defence lawyer representing unidentified persons arranged for the return of the statuettes. These events have attracted speculation that the insurance company might have paid over the reward as a ransom, as this is one way in which thieves make their money.
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Interpol is the international police agency through which countries share information on international crime. Of the missing art objects now on Interpol's list, 516 were taken from Canadian collections.
The number of art thefts in Canada has been growing, the most notable being the robbery in 2004 of five ivory statuettes from the Art Gallery of Ontario snatched in broad daylight. They are worth almost $1.5-million and were eventually returned to the owner. The gallery's insurer offered a reward of $150,000. After the police said that "persons of interest" had been spotted on a video, a criminal defence lawyer representing unidentified persons arranged for the return of the statuettes. These events have attracted speculation that the insurance company might have paid over the reward as a ransom, as this is one way in which thieves make their money.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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