[MSN] Met's art theft squad has to go cap in hand

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Met's art theft squad has to go cap in hand

· Budget cut leads to vain quest for private backers
· Specialist unit accorded 'very low priority'

Sandra Laville , crime correspondent
Saturday April 21, 2007
The Guardian

The dramatic scaling down of Scotland Yard's once renowned arts and 
antique squad has left organised criminals free to plunder the nation's 
heritage, according to a leading fine art insurer.

Police have sought private money to finance the squad after its annual 
budget of some £300,000 was halved earlier this year. But the Guardian 
has learned that Scotland Yard has failed to secure a penny from 
insurers or auction houses, after months of discussions.

Britain's art market is second only to the US and experts claim up to 
£200m worth of stolen art and antiques are sold in the UK each year. 
Interpol estimates that art theft is the fourth largest organised crime 
after drugs, people trafficking and arms.

Annabel Fell-Clark, chief executive of Axa Art UK, which pays out tens 
of millions of pounds a year to reimburse victims of art theft, 
condemned the slashing of the unit's budget. She warned that scaling 
down the unit was already having an impact on pursuing art thieves who 
target Britain's stately homes and museums.

"We have seen that they [the team] are increasingly overstretched and 
being treated as a very low priority. At the moment we have very good 
information which we are wanting to pass on, which would bring arrests, 
if not convictions. But we are not being treated particularly seriously, 
let's put it that way.

"We want to see criminal gangs brought to justice, and in some instances 
lack of interest from the squad has stopped us being able to pursue 
further recovery. We want and need to work with the police."

She said Axa was aware the government was seeking funding for the squad 
but the company had decided it would not consider paying directly for 
the unit, adding that attempts by the Home Office and the Metropolitan 
Police to find private sponsors in the art world were shortsighted.

"It would be a conflict of interest for us to get involved," she said. 
"We have slightly different agendas. As insurers, we are interested in 
recovering the pieces however we can, and are not that bothered about 
finding and prosecuting the perpetrators. We are concerned that this 
aspect of law enforcement is not taken particularly seriously right now.

"Very often when you are investigating art theft connections are 
uncovered with organised crime in relation to drugs and arms dealing, so 
it doesn't make sense to ignore this aspect of criminal activity."

The London based "arts squad" was formed in 1969 to pursue and prosecute 
criminals who operate in the second biggest art market in the world. In 
the past the unit, which is called in to investigate 120 cases a year, 
was involved in recovery of art works across the world.

According to art crime sources, officers from the squad worked with 
Spanish investigators to help crack one of Europe's most spectacular art 
robberies - the theft of 19 paintings valued at £30m from the Madrid 
penthouse of Esther Koplowitz, Marquesa of Casa Penalver and Cardenas.

Other successes include the uncovering of a multimillion pound British 
smuggling operation in which precious antiquities and archaeological 
artefacts were stolen from Egypt, some of which were sold at Sotheby's.

Last year the unit arrested a gang allegedly responsible for stealing 
tens of millions of pounds of art and antiques from stately homes over 
four years, including £30m worth of antiques from Ramsbury Manor in 
Wiltshire.

Mark Dodgson, of the British Antique Dealers Association, said: "The 
idea of people in the art world funding the squad seems wrong. My 
members pay taxes already, and surely paying for the police is what 
their taxes are for."

Scotland Yard confirmed that as yet no private investors had been 
identified to provide the 50% funding required for the unit by the next 
financial year.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk