MIAMI – Authorities say customs officers have recovered ancient stone carvings from Cameroon at a South Florida airport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday that officers at Miami International Airport intercepted an air cargo shipment containing “Ikom Monoliths.”
Investigators say the stone sculptures had been exported to the U.S. using fraudulent documents. Experts believe the artifacts date back between 200 A.D. and 1000 A.D. Officials say the items will be returned to the central African nation.
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No arrests or criminal charges were reported.
Most countries have laws that protect their cultural property, such as art, artifacts, antiquities, or other archeological and ethnological material. These laws include export controls and national ownership of cultural property.
Customs and Border Protection said in a news release that it made 23 seizures of cultural property in 2019 with a domestic value of nearly $1 million.
“CBP has a critical role in protecting cultural property and preventing illicit trafficking,” Robert Del Toro, CBP’s Acting Port Director at MIA, said in a statement. “This is just the latest example of ever-vigilant CBP teams working with our federal partners to enforce international repatriation laws of ancient artifacts.”