The Trafficking Problem: A Criminological Perspective

Crime with art and antiquities often involves cross-border crime (de Roux and Paringaux 1999; Tijhuis 2009a). Both stolen art and illegally excavated antiquities are often, and in the case of antiquities usually, taken abroad to be sold there (Brodie et al. 2001; Middlemas 1975). In this chapter, crime with art and antiquities are limited to situations of cross-border crime. The analysis here is based primarily on a PhD study that focused on the interfaces between legal and illegal actors around transnational crime, and in particular the illicit art and antiquities trade (Tijhuis 2006). The study made use of both official data gathered in the Netherlands, France, and Italy, as well as interviews with experts and open sources like academic literature and (specialized) media reports.