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Operation Icarus
Operation Icarus is a police investigation into the organised theft and black market trade of religious and church artefacts in England and Wales. The investigation, led by West Mercia Police, commenced in 2013 and has subsequently been declared a major incident. According to ArtWatch UK — an organisation which campaigns for the protection of works of art and architecture — the investigation has uncovered "the systematic plundering of churches in England and Wales () has gone largely unnoticed for up to ten years." Detective Inspector Martyn Barnes, head of the operation, said: "Some of the items that have been taken are described as priceless because they are unique. Some of them may fetch tens of thousands of pounds on the black market; others go for £50, £60. We believe that some of these crimes date back to 2002—2003."
International art crime is "a $6 billion a year business" according to the United Nations, and "the fourth most lucrative sector in international crime after drugs, money laundering and illegal arms shipments." Around 8% of all stolen art worldwide is taken from churches. In England and Wales the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Heritage and Cultural Property Crime Working Group estimates the theft of art and antiques to be worth around £300 million, "second only to drug dealing and more costly than the theft of stolen vehicles."
==History==
Operation Icarus was launched in 2013 by West Mercia Police (WMP) following the recovery by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) of several stolen religious artefacts. The MPS had received information from HM Revenue and Customs relating to the illegal importation of a gorilla's head by an art collector in South London. When police confronted the collector they also found two 15th century decorative oak panels and a 13th-century stone memorial.〔 The oak panels, depicting St Victor of Marseille and St Margaret of Antioch, were identified as priceless parts of a medieval rood screen from Holy Trinity Church, Torbryan, Devon, and had been stolen in August 2013.〔 The stone was identified as a "heart stone" which had marked the place where the Bishop of Hereford John de Breton's heart was interred in the wall of Dore Abbey, Golden Valley, Herefordshire.〔 It had been stolen in September 2012.
As the force responsible for Herefordshire, WMP took over and interviewed the collector, widening the investigation to include art dealers and internet sales. The operation discovered that "for at least six years, and more likely for a decade, a person — or persons — had been targeting remote, often unlocked, churches and stripping them of precious artefacts."〔 Searching eBay, police discovered at least one stolen artefact for sale on the internet auction site: a 14th-century stone carving depicting the head of Robert de Wakering, stolen from All Saints Church, Newland, Gloucestershire, in 2012. Detective Sergeant Andy Bennett said that while some thieves are "taking pot luck and taking whatever they can steal" others are stealing specific items to order. DI Barnes said that art dealers purchasing stolen artefacts "were not doing enough to ensure that objects were on the market legitimately.... Our general consensus is that their records are woefully inadequate. They say they comply with the law and they probably do — just — but do they turn a blind eye? I would say, yes they do."〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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