The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Los Angeles, California, Field Office has returned 48 Egyptian cultural artifacts on 21 August to the Egyptian government after an investigation determined that the objects had been illicitly trafficked out of Egypt.
The artifacts were formally handed over to Egyptian government representatives during a repatriation ceremony in Los Angeles on Friday. The returned objects include carved figures, amulets and tomb equipment dating to the Pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods.
The FBI’s Art Crime Team investigated the objects after their most recent possessor contacted the bureau following research that raised questions about how the artifacts had entered the US. Investigators found no records showing that the objects had been legally removed from Egypt. The original suspected trafficker is now deceased.
During the ceremony, Ambassador . Hossam Eldeen Aly, Consul General of Egypt in Los Angeles, thanked the US government for returning the artifacts.
“These handed-over artifacts represent an integral part of the history and cultural heritage of Egypt and its people,” Aly said, describing the return as an honor for Egypt.
The repatriation followed a 2016 cultural property agreement between the US and Egypt that restricts the import of certain archaeological and ethnological materials from Egypt. The agreement provides a framework for the two countries to cooperate in identifying, intercepting and returning trafficked cultural property.
The FBI said US law enforcement agencies have returned more than 5,000 cultural artifacts to Egypt over the past decade. While some cases lead to prosecutions and others are limited by the statute of limitations, recovered objects are ultimately returned to their countries of origin.
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