Jordan Times
Monday, May 10, 2004
Customs officials foil
attempt to smuggle over 500 Iraqi artifacts
Around 1,500 attempts to smuggle Iraqi antiques foiled since
outbreak of war
AMMAN (JT) — The Customs Department announced
yesterday that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 500 Iraqi artefacts
at the Kingdom's eastern border of Karama.
Customs Department Director General Mahmoud Qteishat told The Jordan Times that
the smuggled items include several ancient glassware, copperware and statuettes,
which date back hundreds of years.
The smuggler, an Iraqi national, was referred to the concerned authorities for
interrogation while the confiscated artefacts were sent to the Antiquities
Department.
According to Qteishat, last week's operation puts at around 1,500 the attempts
foiled by customs officials to smuggle Iraqi antiques out of the country after
the outbreak of war.
“All these items will be kept at the Antiquities Department until the Iraqis
elect a government, then they will be sent back there,” he said.
Qteishat indicated that a conference grouping representatives from the Interpol,
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and all
countries surrounding Iraq will be held in few weeks in Amman to study ways to
tighten inspection at all borders with Iraq to combat the smuggling of Iraqi
historical items.
Participants will also discuss international efforts to protect Iraqi heritage
after the damage it has incurred following the war.
Meanwhile, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported yesterday that customs
officials also thwarted an attempt to smuggle captagon pills in a truck coming
from a neighbouring country last week. Qteishat said the attempt was foiled
thanks to ultrasound devices. Smugglers had prepared certain locations in the
truck to transport the pills.