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'Ancient' antiques seized by UK Border Agency
11 November 2009
Two smuggled 'ancient' antiques have been seized by UK Border Agency officers at Heathrow - although it turns out one wasn't quite what it seemed.
The gold belt and bronze drinking vessel, which were said to date back to 1000BC and be worth £28,000, were referred to specialist officers by an ancient art dealer in London who suspected they had been brought into the country from Dubai illegally.
The items were seized and checked by experts from the British Museum who found that that the belt was not a three thousand year old ancient Arabian artefact, but was in fact a fake made in 1950. The bronze drinking vessel was genuine, and may have come from the Middle East, but it had been left in such a bad state the experts fear it may not be repairable.
An investigation is now underway into how the items were smuggled into the United Kingdom, and where they originated from.
Grant Miller, Assistant Director of the UK Border Agency's International Trade and Standards team at Heathrow said:
'This was undoubtedly a very unusual seizure for us. We are now trying to find out where they came from, who they belong to, and who brought them in illegally.
'The international trade in illicit cultural artefacts is increasingly being linked to other forms of organised crime. We will continue to do all we can to stop those attempting to bring historical artefacts into the UK illegally and restore seized cultural objects to their rightful owners.'
Since December 2003 it has been an offence to sell, import or export a stolen cultural object or artefact of archaeological interest. Any person found guilty of the offence can be jailed for up to seven years.
The items were seized by the Heathrow Airport Merchandise in Baggage (MiB) team. The team works with passengers and their commercial goods carried in personal baggage. In the last year the team have handled over £3.7 billion worth of goods imported and exported. They also investigate cases of suspected smuggling and illegal importation.