Dubai has become a major transit point for trafficked antiquities from countries like Egypt and Libya.

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Demand from private collectors creates the economic incentive for the looting of antiquities.

No major U.S. art collector has been imprisoned for more than a few days for possessing illicit antiquities.

Looters often photograph antiquities in the ground as proof of authenticity, based on the saying "if it's looted, it's real."

Hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt had $70 million in antiquities seized and was banned for life from acquiring relics.

The illicit antiquities trade results in the permanent loss of scientific and cultural knowledge from disturbed archaeological sites.

The looted coffin of Nedjemank was trafficked through Dubai and Germany before being sold by a French dealer.

There is no substantiated evidence that terrorist groups like ISIS systematically fund themselves at scale through the antiquities market.

The most difficult step in trafficking an antiquity into the United States is getting it past U.S. customs.

Contemporary looting methods include digging pits at archaeological sites in the Middle East, visible via satellite imagery.

Traffickers often stockpile looted antiquities for years or decades before placing them on the market.

Antiquities looted from Iraq in 2003 were not expected to appear on the market for at least a decade.

Some Iranian women in Van, Turkey, have been forced into prostitution due to economic desperation.

The claim that the illicit antiquities market is worth $10 billion is unsubstantiated.

Prosecutors may offer traffickers deals for reduced sentences in exchange for cooperation that leads to recovering more artifacts.

Hobby Lobby president Steve Green paid a $3 million fine after buying 5,500 looted artifacts from Iraq.

In Southeast Asia, statues have been removed from temples in countries like Cambodia, India, and Nepal, sometimes leaving chainsaw marks.