News Releases and Statements
News Releases and Statements
A 3,000-year-old wooden sarcophagus, seized in Miami, was returned to Egypt in a ceremony at the National Geographic Society after a 2-year international investigation.
A silver pendant with the image of Peter the Great was among 200 items stolen from Russia's State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2006. ICE recovered the pendant in Seattle and returned it to Russia.
ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton presented six cultural items to the Ambassador of Iraq to the United States, Samir Sumaida'ie, in a ceremony at the Iraqi Embassy in the nation's capital. The items ranged the timeline of Iraq's history, from its ancient past to its recent political history.
ICE announced the forfeiture of Le Marche following a Manhattan federal court trial that found the work was stolen from a French museum in 1981.
8 Peruvian cultural religious artifacts seized in ICE investigation.
A Corinthian column krater, left, and a Pompeii wall panel fresco, stolen from Italy and recovered by ICE in New York, were returned to the Italian government in a ceremony.
Remains of a saber-toothed cat and dinosaurs were repatriated in a ceremony at the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C.
A rare chrome rifle with pearl handle grip and a small photograph of Saddam Hussein near the front sight was owned by the late dictator.
SEATTLE - A Romanian national who attempted to sell an 18-carat gold bookmark that reportedly belonged to Adolf Hitler, will make his initial appearance in federal court at 1:30 this afternoon charged with sale or receipt of stolen goods.
The items, which included terra cotta cones inscribed in Cuneiform text, a praying god figurine that was once imbedded in a Sumerian temple and coins bearing the likenesses of ancient emperors, are an illustration of the long and varied history of the country now known as Iraq. Remnants of ancient Cuneiform tablets, which were seized by the Customs Service in 2001, were recovered from beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center.
The pre-Columbian era refers to a period preceding the exploration of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. The artifacts date as far back as 500 B.C. ICE agents and BSO officers discovered the artifacts during the execution of three federal search warrants at various South Florida locations. The artifacts, which include ancient pottery, gold pieces and emeralds, were stolen from Colombia and illegally smuggled into the United States.
The eight items, believed to be of ceremonial use, date back to 2000 B.C. from a civilization known as Bactria, located in modern-day Northern Afghanistan. This date and location identify them with what is called "the Bronze Age" of Bactria. They were the metal remnants of items that would have had handles of wood or bone: a spear, two axes, and dagger and knife blades.
The cache of fossils, including prehistoric pine cones and dinosaur eggs, was seized two years ago by ICE agents at a gem and mineral show in Tucson, Ariz.
Salvatore Dalessandro, Special Agent-In-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Michael J. Garcia, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the arrest of Edward George Johnson, an active U.S. Army helicopter pilot, on charges relating to his sale of stolen Egyptian antiquities.
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