War Diggers Website Criticises UK Police

Still on the subject of the concerns of HAPPAH about the plague of British metal detectorists coming over to the continent and plundering World War One and World War Two sites and walking off with the stuff, regardless of the need to protect sites from such vandalism, here's a site aimed at those with an interest in buying artefacts from the Great War: "One stop resource for artefacts and information": www.westernfrontmilitaria.com. Items offered include:

"Pair of relic condition British cavalry spurs unearthed near Ypres in Flanders. A rare find...you don't see any for years and suddenly you locate two pairs in two different countries! A nice addition to any collection and now available in the website catalogue".["Relic condition" - translate as 'dug up']; "Interesting find from the site of an artillery emplacement near Poeringhe outside Ypres in Flanders [...]".

There are lots more ground-dug objects figured.... In not one of the examples I looked at was any mention of any documentation from the landowners signing ownership over to the finder or any information about documentation of the following of proper export/import regulations of dugup cultyural property.

The St Albans raid is described there as

Typical UK Plod overkill... and I speak as ex police. [...] I think I sold him that granatenwerfer in one of the pics. Pity they couldnt find time to investigate [...*] gangs gang-raping young white girls in our towns and cities. An easy, soft target. It makes me laugh when they go into panic mode and cordon off areas and evacuate in case anything is live.

Another member Nick Wotherspoon from Manchester agrees that the UK police have their priorities wrong:

Not the first time it has happened and the gutter press just love it and lap it up - getting to be a bit of a vicious circle PS What is a "Heritage Crime" ?

Stealing historical artefacts from protected historical sites or without the required permission, removing them extra-legally from the source country and selling them on would be three. Seventeen million ponds of PAS "outreach" really seen to be paying off there ...

[*] Hate speech deleted. See what kind of people are among those who collect relics of "Our" Past.

Hat tip to Nigel Swift for link.