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NEW YORK.- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida, Puerto Rico and Memphis confiscated 66 pre-Columbian Taino artifacts, many dating back 2,000 years, arrested the smugglers, and returned to Dominican Republic authorities.

In a joint statement the two agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an investigation led agents to the millenarian artifacts in Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Memphis, Tennessee.

The artifacts were displayed in the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo by ambassador Raul Yzaguirre and ICE International Affairs director Luis Alvarez.

The objects were seized in May, 2008 during the operation that began in Florida.

Agents who inspected 11 boxes that arrived in Orlando from Dominican Republic found what they called “stone figurines,” consigned to an individual in Jacksonville.

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COMMENTS
3 comment(s)
Written by: lsantiago77, 14 Sep 2011 10:05 AM
From: United States
they were prob illegaly sold by someone in gov, they werent stolen we all know that.
Written by: riosm, 14 Sep 2011 11:50 AM
From: United States
Sounds like an episode of an "Indiana Jones" flick.....no word of any arrest's made, I can only wonder why ?
Written by: pelaut, 15 Sep 2011 8:49 AM
From: United States
Not to worry, they'll reappear somewhere else as soon as they get back to the land of the fences.
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