Ancient Greek statue smuggled from Libya and seized in France returned to the country
The Ancient Greek statue, which was seized in France in 2016 after being smuggled from Libya, has been handed over to the Tripoli administration.
AA
A ceremony was held for the handover of the statue to Libyan officials, which was brought to Mitiga International Airport in the capital Tripoli by a private plane departing from Paris.
Nuveyci el-Urfi, Technical Affairs Director of the Libyan Department of Antiquities, told an AA reporter that the headless Ancient Greek statue received by Libya was smuggled out of the country in 1999 and seized in France in 2016.
Stating that the statue, which was smuggled from the city of Shahhat in eastern Libya, was captured by French Customs in 2016, Urfi noted that it was decided to be returned to Libya following a court case in France.
'THERE IS A COURT DECISION'
Urfi noted that they had previously received a historical artifact from the Roman period that had been smuggled to France.
"There are other historical artifacts in France that were smuggled from Libya. There are court decisions regarding these as well, and there are 4 such artifacts," said Urfi, expressing that historical artifact smuggling is an international problem.
THOUSANDS OF ARTIFACTS SMUGGLED
Stating that there are thousands of historical artifacts smuggled from Libya to various countries around the world, Urfi noted that some museums house over 40 historical artifacts belonging to Libya.
Urfi stated that there are historical artifacts smuggled from Libya in over 55 museums in France, the UK, the US, and various other countries, and that they are making efforts to bring them back to Libya.
The Libyan Department of Antiquities announced on October 12, 2023, that French authorities had handed over the headless Ancient Greek statue (400 B.C.) to the Libyan Embassy in Paris.