Interpol joins hunt for Iraqi works

Interpol launched a worldwide hunt Friday for priceless Iraqi antiquities looted during the chaos of the U.S.-led invasion and warned collectors not to buy art treasures they suspected had been stolen.

The international police authority said it had set up a team to track down the looters and missing treasures.

Agents will fly to Iraq as soon as possible to check on what was stolen in the mayhem surrounding the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Antiquities experts gathered in Paris to assess the damage said Thursday they believed organized criminal gangs were behind some of the looting. They called for U.S. and British forces in Iraq to guard cultural sites and demanded a freeze in global trade of all antiques, works of art, books and archives from Iraq.

From Reuters