The United States gives Iraq thousands of artifacts dating back thousands of years

On May 2, US authorities conducted an exchange of 3,800 illegal items to Iraq.

The above artifacts include ancient Persian alphabets, cylindrical seals and pottery . Most of the objects came from the ancient city of Irisagrig of Iraq and date from 2100 to 1600 before Public.

An antiquity of Iraq.(Source: gizmodo.com).

This is the first time in the past three years, the United States has handed over stolen artifacts in Iraq. US officials declared Iraq to be one of the cradles of human civilization and "we are proud to contribute our part to the recovery of these items on the black market to return to the Iraqi people. ".

According to the US Department of Justice, the path of these antiques from Iraq to the US is quite complicated. First, they were smuggled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel. Later, the artifacts were sold to the US for retailer Hobby Lobby.

Statistics show that since 2008, the US Department of Immigration and Customs Administration (ICE) has handed over more than 1,200 ancient objects stolen to Iraq and sold to the country after former President Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.

Hobby Lobby is the largest private business group in the world with the store network in 47 countries and 32,000 employees.