The financial crisis has seen a rise in a rather uncommon form of crime: the looting of Greek antiquities.

“The numbers have increased, and this is related to the economic crisis,” Lieutenant Evgenios Monovasios of the Security Police Division of Attica told National Geographic.

The increase of illegal excavations and theft of archaeological artefacts coincides with a significant rise in applications for metal detector permits.

Although the Greek government tracks these applications, granting the devices to only those without a criminal record, authorities are having a harder time than usual monitoring the situation.

Police detectives with the Greek Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage say this is due to the changing profile of looters, from members of criminal networks to regular people looking to make a quick buck.

“It would take an army to catch everything,” said Elena Korka, the director general of antiquities and cultural heritage.

“It’s impossible not to find antiquities in Greece; they are literally everywhere.”

With agencies in charge of protecting the country’s antiquities experiencing severe budget cuts, only 60 odd employees across the country work exclusively on monitoring looting.

But at the end of the day, is it really worth it for the diggers?

According to National Geographic, those excavating only receive a small percentage of the final value price, referring to a group of looters who received €50,000 for a statue whose sale price was €1.1 million.

If caught, taking part in an illegal excavation can lead to a jail sentence of up to 10 years, while artefacts carrying a price tag of €150,000 or more face even greater sentences.

Lieutenant Monovasios says taking preventative measures is the only way forward, suggesting an increase in educational outreach.

He says people need to realise how much a society loses not only financially, but on a cultural level, when sites and artefacts are destroyed and taken away.

“By looting you are depriving future generations of identity,” he said.

“The economic crisis is probably temporary, but the negative effects of looting are permanent.”

Source: National Geographic