The London-based Art Loss Register, which compiles information about art theft, lists 170,000 stolen artworks on its database. The list is growing by 10,000 new entries a year. While sketchy reporting and record-keeping means there are no reliable statistics, the FBI puts the value of art and cultural property stolen worldwide as high as $8 billion a year.

LONDON— Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques Unit reports that London—ranked as the second largest art market in the world—serves as a magnet for forgers, with some of the profits flowing back to terrorist networks. They note that widespread looting in Iraq’s museums and archeological sites has spurred a massive increase in the number of stolen artifacts channeled through London in recent years. Police also say that the huge jump in art prices has spurred a rise in fakes and forgeries, as well (see Art Crimes, February 2007). Julian Radcliff, director of the Art Loss Register, recently estimated that as much as $400 million in faked artworks and antiques were sold in the U.K. every year. Despite this, the unit faces a 50 percent budget cut in 2008.

In the wake of terrorism fears and violent crime, Scotland Yard justifies the decision on the grounds that art crime is not a priority for the force. The unit, which has four officers on staff, hopes to offset cuts through private sponsorship (see Art Crimes, March 2007). “We’re looking for sponsorship, not only in the U.K. but abroad as well, to match our expected funding, around £170,000 [$345,000],” says Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley, head of the art crime squad. “They should be enhancing the unit, not diminishing it,” says Richard Ellis, former head of the art crime squad. “But art crime is still very much misunderstood.”