OSCE concludes eighth regional workshop on combating illicit trafficking in cultural property

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, held the eighth in a series of operations training workshops on combating illicit trafficking in art, antiquities and cultural property in Wrocław, Poland, from 24 to 28 March 2025.

The workshops delivered vital operations and investigations training to frontline officers from Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, equipping them with the tools and expertise to combat the growing threat of cross-border trafficking in cultural property and its linkages to organized crime, terrorism financing and money laundering.

Representatives from law enforcement, customs and border services, national prosecutors’ offices, financial investigators, and museum experts were put through complex simulated art crimes and trafficking cases based on real-life examples. These also involved immersive experience training with customs examinations and crime scene investigations at museums and archaeological sites.

Trainees were given extensive training on customs search powers and procedures, law enforcement practices, intelligence analysis, financial and cyber investigations, and crime scene forensics at the National Museum in Wrocław and the Ceglarski Bastion archaeological site. The course concluded with the presentation of mock investigation results to real state prosecutors.

“We are building important border management and law enforcement networks across the region to directly confront, disrupt and dismantle the networks profiting from the theft and trafficking of art, antiquities and cultural property,” said Cameron Walter, the TNTD Customs Adviser leading the programme dedicated to combatting illicit trafficking in cultural property, “Multiple international investigative channels were discussed during the training and new law enforcement partnerships were forged. This work has real impact for communities by making our participating States safer.”

The training was guided by international law enforcement, border management and heritage crime experts from the OSCE-led Heritage Crime Task Force (HCTF). For more information on the Programme to Combat Trafficking in Cultural Property or the HCTF, please contact heritage@osce.org.