Iraq issues cards of stolen artifacts and passes them to Interpol

More than five years after their disappearance, the Antiquities Department issues special identification cards of all artifacts that were looted from Iraq Museum shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The museum’s procurement manager, Muna Hassan, said more than 10,000 cards have been printed and passed to Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization.

The department hopes the presence of these cards will make it easy for police across the world to identify the treasures.

It also says the fact that the Interpol is informed is bound to make it extremely difficult for smugglers to trade in these artifacts.

Hassan said each card contains the piece’s museum identification number, its picture and description.

Meantime, the department urged countries seizing looted Iraqi antiquities to return them to Iraqi authorities.

“We have confirmed knowledge that there are countries which have seized some of these artifacts during inspections of cross-border trade. And instead of returning them to Iraq, they have added them to their collections of cultural properties,” said Hassan Ali, deputy Antiquities chief.