Gadhafi's Dagger Can't Cut It in Turkish Smuggling Market

Muammar Gadhafi's dagger, looted from his palace on his downfall and death, was smuggled from Libya to Turkey where authorities seized the power symbol – a mass of ivory decorated with gold, emeralds, diamonds, rubies and sapphires – before it could be sold.

A businessman in Istanbul was caught trying to sell the Libyan strongman's dagger to an unnamed Saudi businessman for $10 million, according to the Hurriyet Daily News and the Turkish daily Habertürk, 

The seller claimed he purchased the dagger from an opposition group in Libya for $4.6 million, said the Daily News.

"Your exchange office should pay our exchange office $10 million," the businessman allegedly told undercover police, said the Daily News. "If the dagger is not authentic, then you can come and take your money from us."

The dagger was believed to have been taken from one of Gadhafi's palaces during the 2011 Libyan revolution that ultimately removed the dictator from power, said CNN.

Turkey's Chamber of Jewelers determined the dagger was authentic and worth at least $2 million, said the Daily News.

The ivory the dagger is made from violates Turkey's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Gadhafi, whose name has also been spelled Qaaddafi, Gaddafi, al-Qadhdhf., and Gathafi, took control of Libya after staging a coup in 1969, according to Biography.com. He was killed on Oct. 20, 2011, in his hometown of Sirte.

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