India prime target of international syndicates for stealing artworks

NEW DELHI: India has emerged as the prime target of international syndicates for stealing works of art. INTERPOL's Nodal agency for India-- Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a letter to the Archaeological Survey of India and other law enforcement agencies alerting them about India being the prime target.

In the letter CBI has said, "India being an immense treasure of ancient works of art, has emerged as a prime target of international syndicates for stealing works of Art."

According to the letter, the nodal agency has asked and other agencies to update the works of art database of INTERPOL. This database is accessible to all countries which are part of INTERPOL.

"It is to bring to your notice that NCB-New Delhi (India) is having access to INTERPOL's Works of Art (WoA) database. This database increases global visibility of stolen works of art among international law enforcement agencies and helps to curb their illicit trafficking," CBI has said.

"By updating details of stolen works of art from India in this database, there is a considerable increase in the chances of their recovery. In order to make the best use of WoA Database of INTERPOL, to populate and consolidate national database of stolen Works of Art," CBI said.

"Updating the requisite details on INTERPOL's Works of Art database will enable faster identification of stolen works of art and expedite the investigation of such cases through international inputs," The letter says.

Interpol is an international organisation with 194 member states and 100 years of experience of international cooperation in Policing. Interpol's 17 databases house 90 million records.