An an ancient stone ornament illegally removed from Syria has been found on sale for tens of thousands of pounds in an upmarket antiques shop in Mayfair, central London. 

After being told that antiquities looted in Syria and Iraq may be on sale in Britain, Channel 4’s Dispatches programme sent two academics undercover to pose as collectors. 

Augusta McMahon, a senior lecturer in archaeology at Cambridge, and Alessio Palmisano, from University College London, wore hidden cameras as they browsed antiques shops.