Elisa Menendez
ANCIENT artefacts looted from Islamic State controlled zones in Libya have been recovered in Spain.
La Policia Nacional arrested two Spanish art experts – both aged 31 – in Barcelona, who are suspected of running a ring that buys and sells archaeological works from IS linked terror groups.
One of the men regularly appeared on ancient art programmes on television.
Officers seized a number of various objects, such as mosaics and a sarcophagus during the seven police raids in Barcelona and nearby town, Argentona.
The art is said to have been stolen from archaeological sites in Libya’s coastal regions of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania – areas which are renowned for their ancient Roman and Greek ruins.
La Policia Nacional said in a statement that the men’s looting was linked to IS terror group, Daesh, which is helping to finance the organisation’s activities.
The pair face charges of document falsification, membership in a criminal organisation, smuggling and financing terrorism.
