Customs returns artifacts to Mexico that were smuggled across in Naco last year


Published/Last Modified on Saturday, January 26, 2008 3:05 PM MST


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today returned three pre-Colombian grinding tools to Mexico that an Arizona man attempted to bring into the  United States illegally last year.


In a brief ceremony held this morning at the port of entry in Naco, Ariz., the manos and metates were returned to Elisa Villapando, an archaeology professor at the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Hermosillo,  Sonora.

The artifacts were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Naco port of entry in June 2007, after an Arizona resident sought to bring them into the United States claiming they were just rocks.  CBP officers then contacted ICE agents, who took the artifacts to the University of Arizona for evaluation.  Experts at the University determined that they were pre-Colombian and had significant cultural value.

Agents investigated the individual who attempted to import the artifacts, but the decision was made not to press charges after he agreed to surrender the items so they could be returned to  Mexico.

“ICE’s mission is to prevent the illegal movement of people and goods across our nation’s borders - be it human beings, high-tech weapons, narcotics, or ancient artifacts,” said Alonzo Peña, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in Arizona.

 

Copyright © 2012 Douglas Dispatch

Comments

    maurice thomas wrote on Jan 29, 2008 6:09 PM:

    " I think some immigrants should be allowed to come here becase maybe they are living very poor and they come for a better life because most of the Mexican immigrants who come here are in need so I think we should at least give them a chance. "

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