Operation Mummy's Curse: Photos of Smuggled Artifacts

By Megan Gannon, Stay Science Contributor | December 2, 2016 02:01pm ET

Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Mummy hand

5 historic artifacts that had been smuggled into america had been returned to Egyptian authorities this week. U.S. officers recovered the cultural objects in an investigation referred to as "Operation Mummy's Curse."
Among the many extra uncommon objects to be returned to Egypt was this cloth-wrapped mummy's hand. [Read the full story on the smuggled artifacts]
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Artifact return

The artifacts had been repatriated to the Egyptian authorities in a ceremony on the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C., on Thursday (Dec. 1).
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

The true factor
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Intricate coffins

Two painted wood sarcophagi had been additionally among the many objects returned to their nation of origin. They included a nesting sarcophagus seized from a storage in Brooklyn in addition to an intricately painted coffin.
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Film prop?

When the hand arrived in a bundle at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport in 2013, it was listed as a sci-fi film prop price $66, in accordance with officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Cursed objects

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has been working "Operation Mummy's Curse" since 2009 to bust a community of antiquities smugglers.
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Hundreds of repatriations
Credit score: Josh Denmark/ICE

Historical past comes alive

"Every of the artifacts returned immediately tells a narrative — a human story, our story," Egypt's overseas minister Sameh Shoukry mentioned in an announcement. "Historical past comes alive when somebody is ready to not solely learn concerning the previous, however can be in a position to go to the historic websites, watch and benefit from the artifacts, admire the photographs and see the precise writings of our ancestors."