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Smuggled Peruvian artifacts recovered

Many of the 322 items date to thousands of years before Columbus' arrival.

MIAMI - More than 300 ancient Peruvian artifacts, including a 3,500-year-old clay pot and a burial shroud used by royalty, have been recovered in South Florida as part of a smuggling investigation, federal officials said Friday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said the colorful painted pottery, tapestries, gold jewelry, masks and other items added up to one of the largest seizures of pre-Columbian artifacts from Peru ever smuggled into the United States.

"These items are not souvenirs people can buy on the streets," said Anthony Mangione, assistant special agent in charge of the agency's office in Fort Lauderdale. "These are cultural items of a country with a rich heritage."

The 322 artifacts were recovered after the Broward County Sheriff's Office received a tip two months ago that someone was selling priceless Peruvian items, leading to search warrants for locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Their authenticity and the age of many items dating thousands of years before the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas was verified by experts on Peruvian culture at Florida International University.

One man described as an Italian national living in Venezuela was arrested Monday in Miami on federal smuggling charges.

Jorge E. Roman, Peruvian consul general in Miami, said he did not know how the items wound up in Florida or whether they were stolen from a museum or archaeological site in Peru. He said the artifacts will be returned to Peru when the U.S. investigation is over.

Mangione said such artifacts can bring thousands of dollars apiece on the black market, usually from collectors who want them in their homes. Some Peruvian items may already have been sold in the United States, and those buyers can also be prosecuted, he said.

[Last modified September 24, 2005, 00:59:07]