Frontline officers deepen expertise in combating illicit trafficking in cultural property at OSCE workshop

Frontline officers from Georgia, Germany and Ukraine deepened their expertise in combating cross-border trafficking in cultural property at the ninth in a series of training workshops organized in Vienna by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department in co-operation with the Austrian Ministry of Finance — Customs Service from 23 to 26 June.

The participants, comprising representatives from customs and border services, police, national prosecutors’ offices, financial investigators, worked with experts from the OSCE-led Heritage Crime Task Force to take an in-depth look at the growing threat of cross-border trafficking in cultural property. They also explored its links to organized crime, terrorism financing and money laundering.

Sessions included training on customs targeting methods using advanced information, cross-border information sharing, and analyses related to trafficking networks, vehicle and cargo ship inspections, cargo container examinations and crime scene investigation foundations.

A series of simulated cases featuring complex art and trafficking crimes based on real-life examples gave the participants a first-hand look at how to carry out investigations in this area. The immersive experience focused in particular on customs examinations and crime scene investigations, including at the Austrian Customs Training Centre and the Carnuntum Roman Village Archaeological site.

“This recent training operation marked a significant advancement of our cross-border efforts to confront and disrupt global art and antiquities trafficking networks through the use of advanced customs and police intelligence to inform customs targeting efforts and more effective cargo examinations,” said Cameron Walter, OSCE Customs Adviser and lead on the OSCE programme dedicated to combatting illicit trafficking in cultural property.

“Building mutual trust between the Heritage Crime Task Force and our partners from Georgia, Germany, and Ukraine, allowed for stronger and more open exchanges and training discussions to enhance frontline officers’ capabilities in applying cutting-edge customs targeting and cargo examination techniques in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property,” Walter said. “This advanced training is the natural next step in disrupting the networks that fuel organized crime and terrorism financing, and multiple new investigation lines started this week are a demonstration of what this Programme, the OSCE and its participating States can achieve through strategic and trusted cross-border customs and police collaboration.”

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.