Illegal Trade Made Illegal by Law? Eh?

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I think somebody else in the US is getting a bit confused about trade and illicit trade of antiquities. Now we read Kimberly Alderman holding forth about those naughty Egyptians ('Egyptian Leaders Trade Archaeological Heritage for Political Gain' [sic]):

 Former legal consultant at the Ministry of State for Antiquities Judge Achraf Al-Achmawi [...]  explained that all Egyptian laws and regulations concerning antiquities and passed before Law 117/1982 actually encouraged smuggling and illicit trade. Al-Achmawi also pointed out that antiquities trading in Egypt experienced significant growth between 1912 and 1951 under Law 14/1912, which made trading in archaeological heritage legal.

But it is precisely those artefacts, legally-exported, that form the staple of today's market in licit antiquities. So, where is the problem? Yes, generally it is the case that when you have a law making something illegal,suddenly you find that there are a lot of people doing this thing newly-made illegal.

It used to be perfectly legal to drive around Europe not wearing a seatbelt - insdeed cars were made whaich had none. Today you can get pulled over and fined for it. So the number of people committing this offence has gone up quite considerably in Europe since the laws were introduced.