Since its inception in 2004 until 2010, the FBI’s Art Crime Team has recovered more than $142 Million in stolen artwork.  It completed between 30 to 40 cases and recovered over 2,400 art objects.

Source: Melanie D.G. Kaplan, “FBI Art Crime Team says residences are biggest target,” SmartPlanet, March 2, 2010.

In 2009, Dubai customs seized more than a hundred cultural artifacts that were smuggled from Iraq.

Source:  Tamara Walid, “Dubai foils new attempt to smuggle Iraq artefacts,” Reuters, February 10, 2010.

After the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, 15,000 items were stolen or looted from the National Museum of Iraq.

As of February 2010, only 6,000 items have been returned.

Source:  Tamara Walid, “Dubai foils new attempt to smuggle Iraq artefacts,” Reuters, February 10, 2010.

The number of cases dealt with by United States Customs increased from 63 in FY06 to 134 in FY07.

Source:  Associated Press, “Antiquities smuggling: Growing problem at US ports,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 14, 2008.

According to the President of UNESCO’s General Conference, 95 percent of Africa’s cultural property has been lost to looters and illicit trafficking.

Source:  George Anastasspoulous, “On the occasion of the international conference: The Return of Cultural Property to its Countires of Orgin,” Statement by President of UNESCO’s General Conference, UNESCO, March 17, 2008.

Based on figures from the Association for Research Into Crimes Against Art and reported in the New York Times, Italy has approximately 20,000 cases of art theft reported each year.

Source:  Elisabetta Povoledo,”A Master’s in Art Crime (No Cloak and Dagger) ,” New York Times, July 21, 2009.

Art thieves generally receive between 7 to 10 percent of the estimated value of the stolen artwork.  This is done either through ransom, collection of the reward fee, or selling it at a low value to an art broker.

Source:  Montreal Gazette, “Art theft ranked as fourth-largest criminal enterprise,” canada.com, September 1, 2007.

According to Interpol, in 2005 there were 1,785 reports of artwork stolen from places of worship.

Source:  Jumana Farouky, “Spirited Away,” Time, January 11, 2008.

According to Charles Stanish, professor of anthropology at UCLA, up to 95 percent of all antiquities available for sale on eBay could be fake.

Source:  Matt Palmquist, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of eBay,” Miller-McCune, June 24, 2009.

A man was detained in Egypt after airport security officials found mummies in his luggage.

According to a report from the BBC, the man was attempting to smuggle numerous antiquities out of the country.

From the BBC:

An airport official said the mummies of a cat and an ibis, a long-beaked bird, dated back to 300 BC.

He said another 19 figurines of ancient Egyptian gods were also found in the passenger’s bags.

The man has been charged with smuggling antiquities, which can carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.