A ceremony in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince marked the return of 479 historical and cultural artifacts that were part of the largest seizure of antique treasures in US history, the FBI announced in a press release on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) A ceremony in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince marked the return of 479 historical and cultural artifacts that were part of the largest seizure of antique treasures in US history, the FBI announced in a press release on Friday.
"The 479 Haitian artifacts were discovered in 2014, when the FBI Art Crime Team seized more than 7,000 items from the private collection of an amateur archeologist, Donald Miller, who had likely acquired the items in contravention of state and Federal law and international treaties. This was the largest single recovery of cultural property in FBI history," the release said.
The ceremony at the Haitian Bureau of Ethnology in Port-au-Prince included representatives from the State Department and the FBI as well as the Haiti's Ministry of Culture, the release said.
Miller amassed his collection over seven decades from locations around the world and kept it on display in the basement of his home in the state of Indiana, the also said.
The FBI continues to contact other countries, as well as Indian tribes, to determine whether they have a claim to any of the remaining artifacts, the release added.
