BALADI NEWS
Antiquities looted from Syria and Iraq are being sold on Facebook, archaeologists have warned.
Citing research by the academics, the BBC reports that the social network has been harnessed by groups of traffickers to buy and sell ancient artifacts from the war-ravaged region.
The bloody takeover of swathes of Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State in recent years saw militants create “a terrorist art market” for the sale of the looted treasures. In Syria, for example, UNESCO described destruction and looting “on an industrial scale.”
Dr. Amr al-Azm, an archeology professor at Shawnee State University, who participated in the research study, told Fox News that ancient treasures have been showing up on Facebook for a number of years. “We started noticing in about 2013 or 2014 that pieces were starting to appear,” he said, describing the problem as extensive.
In addition to Facebook pages offering looted antiquities, some also offer “looting to order,” where people ask for certain items that are subsequently stolen, according to the archaeologist. Facebook told the BBC that it has removed 49 groups as a result of the broadcaster’s investigation, although al-Azm questions that number.
“We have tracked over 90 pages, of those 90, only 5 have been deleted,” he told Fox News, adding that there are tens of thousands, and in some cases, over 100,000 members in the Facebook groups. “In over a year, one group grew from nothing to over 50,000.”
Source: Fox News.