Interpol

Business Type: Service provider. Government agency Industry type: Protection

Activity: There is a lucrative black market in cultural property with strong links to organized crime. Our specialized officers share their expertise and passion for protecting cultural heritage.

We ensure information is shared among countries, bring experts together in workshops and conferences, and offer training on how to counter the traffic in cultural property. When countries send us information about stolen or trafficked items, we analyse this and enter it into our Works of Art database. As well as being a central global repository for this information, our experts can also add value to information received. We analyze emerging trends in art thefts such as the proliferation of counterfeit, faked or forged works, or the use of the Internet for selling works of dubious background.

Many countries do not have police units specializing in cultural property or national databases of stolen items, so we encourage and advise on this, to make our global network stronger.

ContactInterpol. Location: France