The Sri Lanka national was taken into custody in the Middle East and deported to the Indian Ocean island nation on Friday, alongside four other suspects.

The Easter Sunday suicide bombings targeted three churches, three luxury hotels and two other locations and subsequently triggered a flare-up of ethnic violence between the country's Sinhala majority and Muslim minority.

The majority of those killed in the Easter Sunday bombings were Sinhala Catholics, and Islamist extremists later claimed responsibility for the attacks. Read more

Domenico Giani, said many of these artworks are difficult to protect because they are in isolated church buildings where no anti-theft measures are employed, or in churches that are basically abandoned because religious practice has fallen off.

As for valuable artworks scattered among parishes and dioceses around the world, he said it is absolutely necessary that local Catholic authorities obey a 1999 Vatican directive that they make a complete inventory of their art, including detailed descriptions and high-quality photographs of each item.

Not only does an inventory offer the only hope for getting a lost item back, he said, it also ensures that local Catholic officials are aware of the items they have.

Giani was speaking at a general assembly of Interpol, which maintains a photo database of stolen art works. He said this makes the illicit trafficking of cultural goods much more difficult because potential buyers can see that they are stolen.

The Vatican police chief also spoke of "in countries where revolts are under way or there are internal struggles fed by a hatred so strong that people try to destroy anything that represents 'the enemy". In such places, he said, the conditions are ripe for the theft of religious art and its permanent loss.

Giani said the Vatican is "dense with artistic riches" and recognises its potential vulnerability as a target for art thieves because of the high value of its artworks. For this reason, it tries to keep up with the most modern anti-theft technology.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Image: GCatholic.com

The Indonesian authorities say they wanted him to stand trial for murder and arson, offences he denies.

But Interpol decided the case against Mr Wenda was "political".

Benny Wenda, was convicted of inciting people to attack a police station and an arson attack that resulted in several deaths. However, he escaped from prison while awaiting sentence in 2002.

Wenda later arrived in the U.K. and successfully claimed political asylum, arguing that the case against him was a fabrication designed to stop his political activities. He has lived with his wife and children in the English city of Oxford.

There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone.

Interpol is facing legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• NBC World News
• NBC World News
• Image: asopa