Illicit antiquities trade threatens Yemen’s rich heritage

Yemen

Madiha Al-Junaid Illicit antiquities trade threatens Yemen’s rich heritage' Yemen Times, 12 June 2014.

Yemen has an incredibly rich history and beneath its hard-surfaced lands lie the remains of many great civilizations. However, its largely empty and barren landscape provides the opportunity to strike gold—literally in some cases—and poor security infrastructure and legal regulations enable, even encourage, people to become smugglers.[...] Lawless areas like Al-Jawf, Marib and Shabwa, [...] are effectively open for plundering. Much of Yemen’s territory is unmonitored by state authorities and local tribesman have free [rein] to do with it, and take from it, as they please.

The text details some of the problems authorities have providing security, dealing with accidental finds, and smugglers.