The Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Washington received two antiquities from the Office of the Attorney General in New York.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: The estimated value of the two pieces is approximately (275) thousand dollars. They are an elephant of lime and the second is a bull of alabaster dating back to the fourth millennium BC. They were looted from the ancient city of Uruk and were smuggled during the Gulf War and brought to New York in the United States in late 1990.

He added that the piece of the ancient bull was seized from the private collection of antiquities dealer Shelby White, and the other piece (an alabaster bull) was seized in a warehouse owned by convicted antiquities dealer Robin Sims.

Counselor Dhafer Abdul Razzaq Jalil attended the handover ceremony on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Washington, and on the American side, Assistant Attorney General / Head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in New York, Matthew Bogdanos, and representatives of the Department of Homeland Security Investigation Office.

The receipt of these pieces comes as part of a series of antiquities recovery operations that the competent Iraqi authorities, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Embassy in Washington, are keen to follow up on continuously with the competent American authorities.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency