Looted Palmyra relics seized by Swiss authorities at Geneva ports
Source: AFP
Saturday 3 December 2016 02.18 GMT
Swiss authorities have seized cultural relics looted from Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, as well as from Libya and Yemen, which were being stored in Geneva’s free ports.
The free ports provide highly secured warehouses where basically anything can be kept tax-free with few questions asked.
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The customs office contacted the cultural authorities in Bern whose expert confirmed the artefacts were genuine, prompting the start of criminal proceedings in February.
Three of the pieces came from Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site devastated by Islamic State group jihadists who seized it in May 2015. The Islamists sent shock waves around the world as they systematically destroyed the central city’s monuments.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/looted-palmyra-relics-seized-by-swiss-authorities-at-geneva-ports