American spy agency FBI returned dozens of looted artifacts to Egyptian government officials during a ceremony held Friday in Los Angeles.
Among the items returned to were jewelry, statues, sculptures, along with other pieces dating back to the Pharaonic, Roman, and Coptic periods, according to the FBI.
The items were recovered from a smuggler who has since passed away.
“This is an ongoing investigation, so we’re not going to go into a lot of the details primarily. Despite knowing that the suspected trafficker is now deceased, we are seeking to identify further co-conspirators. And additionally, we have reason to believe there may be more items out there,” according to Allen Grove, Special Agent on the FBI Art Crime Team 18.
According to the FBI, US law enforcement agencies have returned more than 5,000 archaeological and cultural artifacts to Egypt over the past decade.
“These artifacts are an integral part of our people’s identity, of their cultural heritage, their history, and it’s truly a great honor to see that our partnership with the US allows us to bring them home and to bring them where they belong,” said Hossam Eldeen Aly, the Egyptian Consul General in Los Angeles.
In 2016, the US and Egypt signed an agreement on cultural property, allowing the US to impose restrictions on the import of certain categories of archaeological and ethnological materials from Egypt.
