Greek Customs Officer Sentenced Over Antiquities Trafficking

Ekathimerini.com, 'Customs officer handed stiff sentence over antiquities trafficking ring' Thursday September 19, 2013

A Thessaloniki court on Thursday imposed a 22-year prison sentence on a 67-year-old retired customs official found guilty of leading a large and active criminal racket whose members were illegally excavating ancient artifacts and selling them. Apart from the 67-year-old, who was fined 50,000 euros in addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed jail terms ranging from two to nine years on another 43 people linked to the racket. Another nine defendants were exonerated. The case came to trial after police dismantled the racket last spring following a large operation in northern and central Greece.

You cannot have a seller without buyers, who was buying the antiquities? The fact that the ring leader seems to have been the convicted customs officer suggests that this organized group was involved in smuggling. Who would buy smuggled Greek antiquities, and in whose collections did they end up? And where will they go from there?

It is all very well foreign dealers blaming "corrupt officials" in source countries for part of the antiquities trade, but for there to be corruption, there have to be matching parties willing to participate in a shady activity like this. In the end, it is the legitimate market and the legitimate collector that is the victim of those that profit by dodgy practices.