Though Stewart found the Minaret still standing, he encountered villagers who were conducting excavations of what they believed to be the lost city of the Turquoise Mountain, selling their finds to traders from Herat. Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Stewart contacted UNESCO to try to inform them of the scale of the damage being done by these unauthorised excavations, and confronted Professor Andrea Bruno at the British Museum in Bloomsbury in an attempt to raise awareness of its looting. He writes that he "was told that an archaeologist would begin work on the site in April 2003, sixteen months after my visit and long after the villagers had removed everything they could".
Although Stewart discovered that the Minaret remained standing, he encountered villagers who were conducting excavations of what they believed to be the lost city of Turquoise Mountain, selling their discoveries to merchants from Herat. Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Stewart contacted UNESCO in an effort to alert them to the extent of the damage caused by these unauthorized excavations, and confronted Professor Andrea Bruno at the British Museum in Bloomsbury with the aim of raising awareness about its looting.