Egyptian treasures tracked down by the FBI’s Art Team were returned home after crackdown
The FBI returned 48 cultural artifacts to Egyptian officials after an investigation found the objects had been illicitly trafficked to art collectors in Los Angeles.
The collection of relics that made their way back to Egypt includes carved figures, amulets and tomb equipment dating to the Pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods, the FBI says. The case came to light after a member of the art community came upon the pieces and discovered that the artwork arrived in the U.S. nefariously. That person called the FBI.
The FBI’s Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy invited “His Excellency, Ambassador Dr. Hossam Eldeen Aly, Consul General of the Arab Republic of Egypt” to a ceremony last week to return the 48 relics. The art, Grandy said, “originated from Egypt and should rightfully be returned to the people of Egypt.”