British Museum Artifacts: FBI Investigates Sale of Suspected Looted Artifacts

The FBI is investigating the sale of hundreds of suspected stolen ancient treasures from the British Museum to buyers in the US and other countries, recovering some items.

FBI is investigating transactions that involve items that are allegedly stolen from the British Museum in London and sold in the United States and other countries, with hundreds of treasures and artifacts involved.

The probe was launched after the museum stated last year that many gems, jewelry, and other items, part of its collection, were either lost, stolen, or damaged. As of now, the museum has recovered 626 of the 1,500 pieces reported to have been stolen, while 100 pieces have been traced but not recovered.

The FBI helped to recover 268 artifacts purchased by a buyer in Washington D. C. from a seller using fake identities such as Paul Higgins or ‘sultan1966’. Peter Higgs, a former museum curator, is suspected to have stolen and sold the artifacts for about ten years and made approximately £100000.

According to the FBI, it also sent one email to one of the U. S. buyers who bought two gems that depicted Ancient Roman figures and beetles through the sultan1966 account. But that buyer stated that the FBI never came back.

Other artifacts have been traced to buyers in cities such as Hamburg, Cologne, Paris, and Hong Kong by the source, an antiquities dealer who informed the museum of the thefts. A 2nd-century obsidian gem head of Hercules was bought for £300 before being stolen from a German gemstone museum.

Also Read: Ghana and Nigeria, in the bid to repatriate looted artifacts, make a step forward

Though Higgs has dismissed the allegations, the British Museum is seeking civil compensation from him. Up to the present, there have been no reports of anyone apprehended in connection to the heist involving the stolen artifacts.