An attempt to smuggle Iraqi antiquities worth $ 200 million foiled

Shafaq News / Social media circulated a video showing the Integrity Commission foiling an attempt to smuggle antiquities worth $ 200 million, including a rare copy of the Torah.

The video clip, through a voice attributed to the director of the Integrity Investigation Office in Dhi Qar, explains that "the smuggling of antiquities, the most prominent of which is a rare copy of the Torah, was agreed upon by the smuggler and the beneficiary side for $ 200 million."

He added that his office staff managed to foil the smuggling attempt, while the arresting team was subjected to gunfire.

The Director of the Integrity Investigation Office in Dhi Qar pointed out that preliminary investigations indicate that the smugglers were arrested, according to a judicial memorandum, as they had an expert in the search for antiquities who excavated the site and reached those artifacts.

He added that the antiquities contain pieces that include a statue and stone seals, in addition to a manuscript of leather that experts expected to be an ancient and rare version of the Torah up to 1500 BC.

The Director of the Integrity Investigation Office added that the accused persons were accompanied by the criminal evidences to the competent investigating judge who decided to arrest them pending the investigation; awaiting the necessary legal procedures, warning that the punishment may reach the death penalty.

Thousands of artifacts were looted from Iraq in the past few decades, including about 15,000 artifacts from Baghdad Museum during the invasion of Iraq by international forces and the overthrow of the former regime in 2003.

Thousands of archaeological sites in Iraq are still vulnerable to indiscriminate mining by organized crime gangs who smuggle their discoveries out of the country.