In a troubling incident for Syria’s cultural heritage, thieves broke into the National Museum of Damascus on Sunday night. Authorities closed the museum in Damascus briefly in the early hours of the investigation. 

Quoting unnamed sources from Syria’s Directorate‐General for Antiquities and Museums, journalist Mohamed Al-Saloum said the theft was discovered early Monday morning.  One source reported the break had affected the museum’s classical department where at least six statues dating back to the Roman era were taken but for the present details on what the stolen pieces were have not yet been disclosed.  Other news sources stated that gold artefacts were targeted. 

Issuing a statement via Syrian state media Brig. Gen. Osama Mohammad Khair Atkeh, head of Damascus’s internal security forces, stated that an investigation had been initiated into the theft, which targeted "a number of archaeological statues and rare collectibles."

The National Museum houses artefacts spanning Syria’s rich past spanning over 11 millennia, including artworks from the Hellenistic (333 - 64 BCE), Roman (64 BCE - 365 CE) and Byzantine (395 - 632 CE) eras.  Among the antiquities on display are murals from the 2nd century Dura-Europos in Syria’s east, textiles from central Palmyra and statues of the Greek goddess of victory from the south.

The museum had only recently reopened to the public on 8 January of this year, after being closed in the lead up to Damascus falling to rebel factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on 8 December 2024. That event also marked the departure of Syria’s former president, Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia, bringing an end to his family’s nearly 54-year rule. Unlike many other Syrian heritage sites, the museum had remained untouched by looting throughout the country's civil war. 

This weekend's theft represents more than just a loss of objects.  It strikes at the heart of Syria’s efforts to preserve and restore its cultural identity after years of conflict. Well documented, the stolen works from the collection may be difficult to sell. 

The event stands as a reminder of the persistent threat to heritage institutions in transitional societies and the urgent need for renewed attention to cultural security. 

TEFAF Maastricht 2022 Image Credit: ARCA

On 15 April 2024 and 19 April 2024, ARCA published two articles building on an announcement made by Spain's Ministry of the Interior which involved the identification of a looted Egyptian object. That investigation involved the Policía Nacional's Historical Heritage Brigade in collaboration with the Dutch Politie, the expertise of an extremely knowledgeable forensic scholar, and the assistance of a cooperating art gallery. With their combined efforts, the Swiss dealer voluntarily relinquished the suspect antiquity to the Dutch police.

Yesterday, Caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof, in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced that the Netherlands will hand over that same stolen sculpture by the end of the year.

Too frequently, antiquities restitution reporting becomes formulaic, providing only cursory information on an object's country of origin, value, age, and the agencies responsible for its seizure or restitution. This happened once again in this case, where one Dutch article reduced the historic object to its most basic description, “a 3,500-year-old stone head from the dynasty of Pharaoh Thutmose III,” followed by a brief paragraph speculating that the piece might be put on display at Egypt's the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which officially opened yesterday.

Basic shapes of block statues

ARCA, being a research-based organisation which specifically examines  crimes that impact art and artefacts, does its best to provide more details to problematic pieces and the problematic dealers that profit from them. Our reporting serves as a means of holding people accountable and reminding individuals of the need to collect responsibly. 

The artefact being returned is not just an Egyptian "head".  It is a decapitated head broken off of an 18th Dynasty Egyptian block statue that was likely intentionally hacked off its body, or deliberately broken at the shoulders for ease of smuggling. Had it been intact, this memorial statue would have shown a man crouched and wrapped in a cloak, inscribed, at the very least with the name of the owner, incised on the body, the base, or the back pillar if one existed. 

Our original reporting touched on what we were able to ascertain about this disembodied head of a squatting man. We knew he was documented on social media sites and came up for sale through a Swiss-based art dealer during the short-lived European Fine Art Fair in 2020 and again with this same dealer when the fair reopened post-Covid in 2022.  Having been the subject of a joint-European policing initiative we know that authorities were convinced he was illegally exported from Egypt in contravention of the country's cultural property laws, then transited through intermediaries in Thailand before being first put up for sale in Barcelona, where it was sold by controversial gallery owner, Jaume Bagot Peix, of J. Bagot Arqueología.

As early as 2015 Bagot's problematic purchasing had placed him on the radar of Policía Judicial y de la UCIE de la Comisaría General de Información.  In 2018, he and Oriol Carreras Palomar were formally charged for their alleged participation in a crime of financing terrorism, belonging to a criminal organisation, concealment of contraband, and use of forgery for their roles in facilitating the sale of illicit antiquities involving pieces trafficked from a second war torn country, Libya.  

Bagot also was charged, and subsequently convicted in Italy, related to a stolen Roman statue and has been linked to a stolen Egyptian ushabti from Sudan, which was again circulated on the art market with falsified provenance documentation. That artefact was sold to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in the Netherlands.  

But despite being suspected of trafficking material from at least three war-torn countries, and having one conviction in mainland Europe while other cases in other jurisdictions pile up, Bagot continues to receive favourable coverage in the press and has been described as operating "one of the most renowned ancient art galleries in Spain."  He also continues to be granted booths and promotion by Spain's Feriarte, an important annual art fair held at IFEMA Madrid, most recently from 18 to 26 October 2025, as well as at ANTIK Almoneda, another Madrid art sales event held from 22 to 30 March 2025.

All this demonstrates how long justice can take. In this Dutch restitution, it will have required five years from this objects initial sighting and identification at TEFAF in 2020 until its ultimate return to Egypt later this year and even longer for these problematic Spanish dealers to face the consequences of their actions. This case, like a second Bagot-related case in Belgium involving the the recent restitution of the Egyptian coffin of Pa-di-Hor-pa-khered, which was stolen from an archaeological site in Egypt in December 2015 and restituted in July 2025 both serve as reminders that restitution is not simply a bureaucratic exercise; it is a fight against a global market that too often rewards negligence and turns a blind eye to complicity. 

Until the art trade adopts a genuine commitment to better behaviour, transparency and due diligence, and holds its art market actors accountable, the cycle of loss, recovery, protracted restitution, and delayed accountability will continue, slowly, one object at a time.

French authorities have formally charged two more individuals in connection with the October 19, 2025 robbery of royal jewels from the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre Museum. Of the five people taken into custody on October 29, two face criminal charges; the other three have been released pending further investigation. 

The first of the newly charged suspects is a 38-year-old woman, indicted for “complicity in robbery committed by an organised gang” and “criminal association with a view to preparing the crime of robbery by an organised gang.” Presented to the court as "afraid" for her children and herself, through her attorney she has denied the charges. 

 The judge of freedoms and detention (JLD) ordered that she remain in custody for now, stating: 

“I do not rule out reassessing the situation, but I want the versions to be cross-checked. The ball is in the lady’s court. Her word will be decisive on the possibility of release under judicial supervision. If it does not lead to anything, we will draw conclusions.”

Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed on November 2 that DNA recovered from the gondola lift used by the robbers matches the woman's genetic profile. 

The second suspect is a 37-year-old man, charged with “organised robbery and conspiracy to commit organised robbery.” He has requested a deferred hearing and remains in custody pending that session. Prosecutors say both of these suspects were previously known to law enforcement, as each had been tried together for a robbery in 2015, suggesting a prior relationship or at least collaboration in other criminal activity.

While still reeling from the Louvre jewel heist, a second high-profile daylight robbery occurred in the city of Lyon. 

Video footage published on the social media site X, taken by witnesses at around 2 p.m., from a neighbouring company shows multiple suspects, dressed in black coveralls with red arm bands, as the crime was getting underway.  Brandishing what appears to be military-grade weapons, the suspects can be seen calmly walking back and forth beside a white van equipped with a blue flashing light which they had parked outside the rear of the laboratory. 

One of the suspects can be seen calmly tossing a ladder over the fence while another detonates an explosive device, blowing out two security windows in the laboratory and injuring five employees. Witnesses reported hearing the explosions as well as possible shots fired from various locations in the district of Gerland, the 7th arrondissement along the River Rhône, where the business is located.

Once the thieves gained entry to the targeted building, the witness video shows one of the accomplices scaling the supplied ladder and throwing parcels back over the fence while another loaded a black case containing gold ingots into the vehicle before the thieves fled the scene. The delivery van was found burned less than two kilometres from the site of the robbery, where the perpetrators switched to a getaway car.

While the thieves may have thought they got away, driving back to a property in Vénissieux to divide the loot, officers of the Lyon (Rhône) Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) were actually already on their tail. The investigative team had them under surveillance in relation to an earlier robbery that also involved explosives. Hours of surveillance and stakeouts in connection with the first theft and preplanning of this second assault, culminated in a search and seizure team being formed to enter  the property.

The police subsequently entered the home via the garage and found the five perpetrators in an apartment on the upper floors, some of whom had tried to escape via the balconies but were apprehended without shots being fired. One accomplice, a young woman suspected of having dropped off a lookout before the robbery, was also taken into custody. 

At the scene, police recovered weapons, detonators, armed explosive devices, a large sum of cash and the €12 million in gold stolen from the Laboratoire Pourquery.  An additional search of a storage unit in Décines led to the recovery of additional weapons, ammunition, a bulletproof vest and a money counter, which tends to indicate the payout for thefts the team was involved with were high.  

Of the suspects described, four are said to be seasoned criminals in their thirties and forties, including one who was already sentenced to ten years in prison for armed robbery. One was wanted in connection with the double murder of the Abdelli brothers, who were gunned down by a burst of automatic gunfire in February 2016 in the Buers district of Villeurbanne, a city bordering Lyon. The murdered brothers, Omar, 34, and Lakdar, 37, were implicated in a murky drug case dating back to December 2012, which is still under investigation.

I mention this non art-related crime here to show the high steaks involved in gold and jewellery thefts.  The criminals involved in these types of activities, risking long  incarcerations if caught, are not always the gentile Thomas Crowne Affair types portrayed in films.  

It is vital to remember that while much of the focus on these thedts falls on the dazzling value of the stolen objects, the jewel-encrusted tiaras, historic necklaces of French royalty, and the multi-million-euro losses, the real stakes in violent robberies includes more than just gold and jewellery. For museum staff and first-responder security guards and room watchers at institutions like the Louvre, their foremost responsibility has to be protecting human life. 

When criminal operations escalate, using heavy equipment, angle grinders, or sledge hammers while masquerading as legitimate workers, the threat they pose is real. A museum guard’s role is not only to safeguard art when and how they can but to prevent lives being harmed. These heists are not glamorous set-pieces from a film; they can also carry the potential for deadly violence. As we follow the investigations, the message must be clear: in high-stakes robberies such as these, vigilance, strong protocol and awareness that human safety comes first are not optional, they are imperative.

By.  Lynda Albertson

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art's art crime blog is dedicated to uncovering, analysing, and reporting on art crime in all its forms: from museum thefts and forgeries to looting and illicit trafficking. Our volunteer writers are cultural heritage professionals who volunteer their expertise to bring depth, accuracy, and context to stories that often go overlooked by mainstream media or are covered only superficially.  

Each article on our blog helps raise awareness about the vulnerabilities facing the world’s shared artistic legacy and the ongoing efforts to protect it. For example in the last ten days ARCA has written several blog posts on the topic of the jewel heist at the Musée du Louvre, its aftermath, the arrests of suspects, and some analysis of museum thefts as can be seen here:

Jewel Heist at the Musée du Louvre;

France's Louvre museum is not the only museum which has been robbed of its gold and jewel finery, here are 20 others;

Beyond the “Dr. No” Myth: Rethinking Who Steals from Museums like the Louvre and Why;

Balancing Beauty and Risk: The Challenge of Museum Security in Historic Buildings;

Two Suspects Arrested in Connection with the Louvre Museum Jewel Heist;

Breakthrough in Louvre Crown Jewels Theft: Five New Arrests

If you enjoy our stories and want to show some love for our writers’ hard work, consider treating them to a little pick-me-up — maybe an espresso, an Aperol Spritz, or a contribution toward the countless news subscriptions we rely on to keep our reporting sharp and accurate. Every bit helps us stay fueled (and fact-checked!) as we bring you the latest in art and cultural heritage crime. You can send your support via PayPal to education@artcrimeresearch.org

 — and know that your generosity keeps good journalism alive.

Is this month’s budget a little tight? No worries! monetary acts of kindness are just as appreciated. You can help by sharing our blog and our important posts online and with your network of others who care about art and culture.  You can also spread the word about ARCA’s in-depth Postgraduate Certificate training programmes in Italy, the longest-running specialised art and antiquities crime training program in the world. 

By supporting ARCA's writers and researchers, you’re helping sustain investigative research and reporting on this important topic and the complex intersection of art, crime, and justice, ensuring that these important stories continue to be told.

Sincerely yours, 

One of ARCA's overly-caffeinated crotchety ole journalists. 

 

Traced through DNA samples left on objects recovered at the crime scene and around the broken window used to access the museum's Apollon gallery and Beccuau's statements relayed more information about the two individuals, originally residents in Seine-Saint-Denis, presently in French custody.  

The 34 year old suspect was arrested at 8:00 pm at Charles de Gaulle airport last Saturday, with a one-way ticket to Algeria.  He is an Algerian-born resident living in Aubervilliers. Unemployed and known to the French police for a theft conviction as well as various traffic offences, he has lived in France since 2010 and once worked as a delivery driver and garbage man.  His DNA traces was found on one of the scooters used in the thieves' getaway after the robbery.

The second 39 year old suspect was arrested the same night at around 8:40 p.m. He was born in Seine-Saint-Denis in the northern suburbs of Paris.  An unlicensed taxi and delivery driver, he was taken into custody near his home in Aubervilliers.  Like the first accomplice, he was already known to police for aggravated robberies committed in 2008 and 2014.  At the time of his arrest this week, he was also under judicial supervision while awaiting trial for the charge of aggravated theft in Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of the French capital.  He was tied to the robbery by DNA  found on one of the broken display cases, as well as on objects abandoned as the thieves fled. 

In talking about the case breakthroughs, the prosecutor clarified that there was no evidence that supported statements that this individual had plans to leave the country, dispelling earlier statements in news articles that said that this suspect was intent on leaving France for Mali. 

Both of these suspects have been identified as the two individuals who road the lift elevator and entered into the museum to steal the jewels.  Brought before French Magistrates on Wednesday, they have now been formally charged with organised robbery, which carries a sentence of fifteen years imprisonment and criminal conspiracy, which carries a sentence of ten years imprisonment. 

Later last night, around 9 pm, Prosecutor Beccuau's office released a statement that five more suspects were apprehended by investigators from the Brigade for the Repression of Banditry (BRB) in connection the the museum heist in the swanky 16th (Marseille) and the impoverished 93rd arrondissement (Seine-Saint-Denis) of Paris.  One of these is believed to have been another of the four alleged robbers who carried out the heist and who was linked to the robbery through DNA evidence.

For now the Paris prosecutor has indicated that the stolen jewellery "is not in our possession" and "I want to remain hopeful that they will be found and can be returned to the Louvre Museum and, more broadly, to the nation".

Further news is expected later this morning. 

News of a break in the case was first reported by the French news service, Le Parisien  citing anonymous sources,

The newspapers story was confirmed via the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, who stated that two men in their thirties were arrested.  One subject was taken into custody while preparing to board a flight to Algiers at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport northeast of the city centre of Paris.  The second suspect was apprehended at a location in Seine-Saint-Denis, a historically working-class immigrant commune in the northern suburbs of Paris.  

Both suspects are said to have prior records according to French media and will likely be formally charged with organised robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.

In her statement, prosecutor Beccuau expressed regret over the premature press release of information related to the case, emphasising that such leaks could seriously undermine the investigation.  She noted that the disclosure risked hindering the coordinated work of roughly one hundred investigators who have been mobilised to recover both the stolen jewellery and apprehend all those involved in the crime. Her comments reflected concern that publicising sensitive details too soon could compromise ongoing efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The investigation continues as authorities search for the remaining two members of the four-man team as well as the missing jewels.

An investigator checking a window for fingerprints after the theft of the Star of India, a 563-carat sapphire the size of a golf ball and other germs were stolen from the American Museum of Natural History Hall of Gems on 29 October 1964.

Across the world, many of the most beloved museums are housed in centuries-old buildings, architectural treasures that, while magnificent, bring unique risk management challenges. Historic facades, original doors, and delicate window glass may charm visitors, but they were never designed for the rigours of modern museum operations.  Not to mention they require periodic and costly maintenance which only  increases their vulnerability. These fragile elements, though aesthetically invaluable, offer little defense against vibration, temperature swings, or forced entry, leaving museum collections more vulnerable than their counterparts in modern, purpose-built institutions.

Jack Ronald Murphy, the infamous "Murph the Surf", was among the thieves behind the audacious 1964 American Museum of Natural History jewel heist in New York. Boasting afterward that "it really was no big deal — a job like this we could pull off anytime," Murphy and his accomplices were swiftly caught, just days after stealing the extraordinary cache of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and gem-studded jewellery, in part because of their extraordinary partying afterward. 

While lawyers in this case negotiated relatively lenient deals for the trio connected to the museum's burglary, "Murph" was incarcerated for two decades, tried for the brutal robbery/homicides of Terry Rae Frank and Annelle Marie Mohn in Broward County, Florida whose bodies were recovered in tidal waters, with cement blocks fastened around their necks.  Just a side point to underscore and think about when the public questions, museum security guards engagement with thieves while still in the midst of a violent robbery. 

Scaffolding at the Louvre in Paris, allowed access to the building which allowed burglars to steal the diamond encrusted sword of King Charles X, on December 16, 1976.

Beyond physical vulnerability, environmental control presents another hurdle. In cities where summer temperatures soar, galleries within heritage structures often struggle to maintain stable climate conditions essential for not only the preservation of art in the collection, but for the comfort of the museum's visitors.  Retrofitting historic spaces for efficient temperature regulation without compromising their integrity is technically difficult and financially demanding.

View of St. Peter's Basilica from inside I Musei Caticani

Complicating matters further, strict preservation laws sometimes limits the scope of modern interventions. Legislation designed to protect authenticity can inadvertently hinder building upgrades which would provide better protection, forcing institutions into a delicate balancing act between conservation ethics and contemporary security demands. This is why it’s not uncommon to find state-of-the-art display cases housed in rooms where the original, centuries-old windows still serve as vulnerable entry points.

Finely engraved gold by the Etruscans alongside refined glass paste of Syria protected inside alarmed cases in the Villa Poniatowski (Villa Giulia), a Renaissance villa that houses Italy's National Etruscan Museum

One thing to remember, as art thieves become increasingly resourceful, blending tried and true old methods with new targets for theft, today's historic museums face mounting pressure to innovate within the constraints of their own history, ensuring that beauty and security can coexist without compromise.

If you’d like to learn more about how to safeguard museums and cultural heritage, consider applying to ARCA’s Postgraduate programmes in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection. These unique courses offer specialised training in risk assessment, security strategy, and the legal and ethical dimensions of cultural property protection. It’s an invaluable opportunity for truly understand that  preservationcomes with professional expertise.

The thought-to-be-stolen, actually apparently-not-stolen framed gouache artwork underwent forensic analysis by police working with Spain's Historical Heritage Brigade, who are continuing the investigation.  They have confirmed that the artwork is the original work by the Malaga-born artist.  Once their ongoing investigation concludes, the painting will be returned to the private collector who originally loaned the piece to the CajaGranada Foundation exhibition.

Initial reports had previously stated that the painting had been packed on September 25 and departed the capital on October 2 in a van escorted by two couriers.  That brief, four-hour journey took a puzzling turn as the couriers are said to have made an unusual overnight stop in Deifontes a short distance from their delivery point, sleeping inside their vehicle to guard their high-value cargo, which had a total insured value exceeding €6 million. 

A short while after the shipment of 58 still life works from the 17th century and the 20th century had been delivered to the CajaGranada-Motril Cultural Center, the Picasso was registered as missing. 

The current line of thinking with the Policía Nacional is that they believe the painting may not have even made it onto the transport truck leaving Spain's capital. 

Recuperado el #Picasso 🖼 desaparecido en su traslado a una exposición en #Granada

Podría no haber llegado a subir al camión de transporte

La Brigada de Patrimonio Histórico de @policia mantiene abierta la investigación una vez que agentes de Policía Científica han… pic.twitter.com/lb5jN8tFvI

— Policía Nacional (@policia) October 24, 2025

In the 1962 film, "Dr No", James Bond spots the actually stolen "Portrait of the Duke of Wellington" by Francisco Goya in Dr. No’s lair.

A question ARCA get's asked often is whether works of art stolen from museums end up with wealthy private collectors for their hidden lairs.

When journalists raise the idea of a “theft-to-order” commissioned by an elusive connoisseur who purchases stolen works to display in secrecy has persisted in popular imagination for decades.  Yet, in practice, this trope has little grounding in criminological reality.  As in many forms of property crime, museum theft is less often the result of grand conspiracy involving a “Dr. No” type figure, than it is about  opportunism and the exploitation of institutional vulnerabilities.  In truth, the motivations and personalities who make up the actors involved in art crime are far more complex, and have little to do with the Hollywood myth. 

Impulsive Crimes of Opportunity

Take, for example, the case of Kempton Bunton, a retired British bus driver, who confessed to stealing Francisco Goya’s Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery in 1961. Bunton wasn’t wealthy, nor was he a criminal mastermind.  He was a disgruntled pensioner who objected to public money being spent on expensive art while the poor had to pay for a TV tax, for watching the telly in their home.  The painting spent weeks not in a villain’s lair or secret vault, but behind a wardrobe in Bunton’s modest Newcastle council flat. That incident also made it to the big screen, in a film aptly titles "the Duke,  staring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. 

By contrast, some thefts do arise from explicit financial arrangements.

There are, however, the occasional, 

One infamous "if-you-steal-it-I-will-buy-it" arrangement is the 2010 Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris heist, carried out by French burglar Vjéran Tomic, nicknamed “Spider-Man” for his acrobatic rooftop exploits.  After methodical planning, he broke into the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris under the cover of darkness, gaining entry by manipulating window screws over several nights using acid.  He then entered through the window, sidestepped defective alarms, and absconded with five masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani, and Joseph Fernand Henri Léger, estimated to be worth over €100 million. 

But Tomic did not act alone in the museum burglary: Jean Michel Corvez, a Parisian art dealer, is believed to have commissioned, or minimally financially incentivised,  the heist.  Corvez provided Tomic with a target list of artists desired by his clients, one of them being a Léger.  Corvez then offered the cat burglar payment once the works had been stolen. 

After the burglary, the paintings passed through a third accomplice, watchmaker Yonathan Birn, who was tasked with storing them, who later claimed to have destroyed them in panic. In February 2017 the trio were convicted.  Tomic received eight years; Corvez seven years, and Birn six. 

This case demonstrates how traditional property crime can intersect with art-market demand structures, transforming theft into a form of illicit commission.

Art crime also intersects with organised criminal economies, where artworks function as negotiable assets.

Right now there is an enormous drug trafficking trial underway in Belgium involving the alleged cocaine kingpin Flor Bressers, nick-named "the finger cutter" who over encrypted messages, told fellow criminals that he purchased the painting "Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer" by Frans Hals (worth millions) for €550,000 in September 2020, hoping to use it's return as a bartering tool with the authorities to keep then-girlfriend out of jail were they to be caught.   That painting was stolen, (for the third time in a span of thirty-five years,) by an enterprising thief from the Hofje Van Aerden museum.  That thief, Nils Menara, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the the theft of the Hal's painting as well as the theft of Vincent Van Gogh's  The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring.   Only the Van Gogh has been recovered. 

Earlier, drug trafficking kingpin and Camorra's affiliate Raffaele Imperiale, once one of Italy's most-wanted fugitives, bought two stolen paintings by Vincent Van Gogh taken from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.  Both were later recovered after the convicted organised crime figure told the authorities were the paintings were. 

Such cases highlight how the symbolic and financial value of art can converge with individuals involved in large transnational organised crime circuits, where cultural property becomes a form of collateral or currency for underworld actors.

Even militias have found stolen art useful.