“We have seen the instances that criminal gangs attempted to smuggle rare antiquities from Lebanon to the Kingdom of Bahrain where Customs Authorities uncover the smuggling attempt,” Mounir Bouchenaki, Director at Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage told the reporters on Wednesday.
The official was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the presentation on Iraq and Syria conducted by a senior UN Diplomat under the aegis of International Peace Institute (IPI) for MENA region based in Bahrain.
He was of the view that it was a duty of the global community to stop the destruction of the rich heritage of Iraq as UN’s allied agencies can’t protect this heritage for security reasons.