Archaeological Artifact Traffickers Caught in Tunisia

A press release from Tunisia’s Interior Ministry revealed that the Cybercrime unit of the Aouina National Guard uncovered a group of archaeological artifact traffickers selling artifacts through the darknet.

At this time, it is not exactly clear where or how the syndicate used the darknet to traffic these artifacts. As previous studies have shown, very select groups of individuals buy such artifacts and their appearance on traditional darknet markets would raise far too many alarms from local and international authorites.

Translated press release:

On 3 July 2018, the 5th Central Information and Communication Technology Crimes Unit of the Information and Research Department of the National Guard of Aoun, established a network dedicated to trafficking in antiquities, which operates through the darknet and arrested 30 of its members, residents of Monastir They had an archaeological artifact in the form of a human head dating back to the Roman era and with archaeological value.

In consultation with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorized the said division to retain all of them and to proceed with a legal case in the matter of “forming an agreement for the purpose of trafficking in national antiquities”, confiscating the artifact, continuing investigations with them and striving to arrest the rest of the network.