prijava
TUZLA, July 25 (FENA) - Illegal art trade is one of the most prominent types of smuggling in BiH, given that our country is an important transit area, said today in Tuzla at a conference on this topic organized by the Anti-Smuggling Center, the OSCE Mission to BiH and the Agency for Training and Professional Development of Human Resources in BiH.
Deputy Director of the Agency for Training and Professional Development of Human Resources in BiH Saša Govedarica says art smuggling here is almost the same as smuggling drugs and weapons.
"If you take into account the value of stolen artwork, then there are more than a hundred million KM. This in itself says that art is often the target of crime and that smugglers benefit greatly. These criminal offenses fall into economic and organized crime,” explained Govedarica.
There are numerous works of art from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the countries of the region as well.
The Sixth Conference on the Fight Against Smuggling and Illegal Art Trade gathered representatives of the Indirect Taxation Authority, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), the BiH Border Police, Interpol BiH, the Federation of BiH Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Center, the Judicial Training Center and Public Prosecutors of Republika Srpska, Agency for Education and Professional Training of Personnel and Brčko District Police.
The handbook “Imports and Exports of Art in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was presented by the Center Against Smuggling of Art with the support of the OSCE Mission to BiH, was presented.
Also, a protocol on co-operation between this Center and the Training and Personnel Training Agency, which operates at the BiH Ministry of Security, was also signed.
The conference was organized in the International Gallery of Portraits, which was also a victim of art smuggling. It was this gallery that founded the Anti-Smuggling Center.
The Anti-Smuggling Center registers 180 artworks that are currently being searched for, although the informal data is far greater.
(FENA) L. N.
