Interpol Notice for Alleged Old-Time Antiquities Smuggler

Lebanon is considered to be an antiquities smuggling hotspot, artefacts (including complete mosaics) from looted museums and sites in the 2011-present Syrian Civil War have passed onto the global market through the country, during Lebanon's own civil war in 1975-90 antiquities smuggling (and possibly looting) was also rife. Lebanese dealers were therefore deeply involved in this trade, but few have been prosecuted. An 'international notice' has now been issued at US insistence for the arrest of a Lebanese man accused of having been involved in antiquities smuggling for many years (Bassem Mroue, 'Interpol issues notice for Lebanese man suspected of trafficking in looted antiquities' Associated Press June 16, 2023)

Interpol has issued an international warrant for a Lebanese man suspected of trafficking stolen antiquities, weeks after he was questioned in Lebanon, judicial officials said Friday. The Red Notice was unsealed 10 months after a criminal court in New York issued an arrest warrant for Georges Lotfi, 82, charging him with criminal possession of stolen property as well as possessing looted artifacts. [...] When Lotfi was summoned for questioning by Lebanese authorities earlier this year, the officials said he denied charges that he had stolen antiquities, saying instead he had bought them from archeologists and sold them to a museum in the U.S. They said it later became clear that the 27 antiquities were stolen in 1981 from a warehouse in Lebanon. The Interpol Red Notice that was posted online said Lotfi is charged with criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree, second degree and third degree. [...] The officials said U.S. authorities said they would repatriate the antiquities to Lebanon on condition that Lebanese authorities put Lotfi under arrest.

Here the problem is the difficulties of prosecuting cases internationally. These Interpol warrants are non-binding requests to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest somebody they regard as "a fugitive". The notice is not an arrest warrant and does not require Lebanon to arrest Lotfi. In theory, once Lebanon formally receives such an Interpol warrant, the subject should be summoned for questioning and their passport confiscated.