Iraqi artifacts looted, smuggled to US
#1
September 24, 1:02 pm
Iraqi artifacts looted, smuggled to US
More than 1,000 priceless Iraqi artifacts have been smuggled out of war-torn Iraq and into the United States since the 2003 invasion. Despite a US agreement to return the smuggled antiques, no artifact has yet been delivered to Iraqi officials.
The artifacts were looted from Baghdad's Antiquities Museum and countless historic sites around the country after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Many US and European antiquities collectors are reportedly involved in trading the stolen Iraqi antiques.
Director of Iraq's National Museum, Donny George Youkhanna, earlier made a plea to Western antiquities collectors to stop buying looted Iraqi artifacts.
Iraqi officials are also looking for 3,000 additional artifacts smuggled from the country.
A 5,000-year-old Iraqi stone statue was sold for $57 million at a New York auction five months ago.
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