Add The California Post on Google Ancient Egyptian treasures are finally going home.
The FBI returned 48 cultural artifacts to Egyptian officials Friday after a probe found the objects had been illicitly trafficked out of Egypt and brought into the US.
The collection includes carved figures, amulets and tomb equipment dating to the Pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods.
The case came to light after the artifacts’ most recent possessor did some digging and discovered their entry into the US was questionable.
FBI analysis found no record that the objects had ever been legally removed from Egypt.
Investigators with the bureau’s Art Crime Team traced all 48 pieces to illicit trafficking.
The original suspected trafficker is now dead, but the FBI says the case is far from over.
“The suspected trafficker is now dead,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy said, noting that the investigation “remains open while authorities work to identify potential co-conspirators and locate other artifacts that may have been illegally obtained.”
With help from the US Department of State, antiquities experts and the FBI’s legal attache in Cairo, investigators confirmed the artifacts came from Egypt and belonged back there.
“With the assistance of the US Department of State and antiquities experts, along with the FBI’s legal attache in Cairo, it was confirmed that all 48 objects originated from Egypt and should rightfully be returned to the people of Egypt,” Grandy said.
Egypt’s Consul General Dr. Hossam Aly said the artifacts were an “integral part of the history and cultural heritage of Egypt and its people.”
The FBI says there’s a darker side to the underground market for ancient treasures: Illicit trafficking of cultural property directly serves as a primary source of funding for transnational criminal and terrorist organizations.
The bureau launched its Art Crime Team in 2004 as cultural-property crimes surged worldwide.
Its agents are specially trained to investigate art and cultural-property crimes, with two team members stationed in Los Angeles.
The team has recovered more than 20,000 items collectively valued at more than $1 billion.
And the 48 artifacts are just the latest Egyptian treasures to make the trip home.
US law enforcement has returned more than 5,000 cultural artifacts to Egypt over the past decade.
Some investigations lead to prosecutions, while others run into the statute of limitations.
But either way, the FBI says the recovered objects ultimately go back to the citizens of the country they came from.
