The Trade in Looted Antiquities Endures for One Reason: Demand

I was working in a company when the boss/owner asked me to translate a lengthy Excel sheet from Arabic into English, it was a long list of antique furniture; a nightmare and I already had my plate full and was earlier denied my bonus. The minute I read a weird special Arabic word (Altaq) that not many people know, it indicates the armchair/sofa or anything, was a single piece, I suspected something scary. I ventured an emailed the CEO saying that the suitable translator that could handle the translation complexities was asking for $500. It was a gamble and it worked. I later found out that his son had opened an art & antique furniture showroom in a mall. My suspicion was and still is, it was looted from my country during this civil war. With all my support and love for whistleblower, I can not be one, or a good one as proving my doubts is beyond my means. And my family and I are also victims of antique furniture looting and here is one item from 1919 https://imgur.com/a/QDYysC1

I remember reading a book about an FBI investigator who specialized in recovering stolen art and it mostly turned out to be low-rent sad hucksters. The chase is always more interesting than the stories of who took them.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6827652-priceless

I've heard circular reasoning before, but not one right in the title!

[dead]