LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Four California museums were raided on Thursday as part of a probe into a smuggling ring involving looted antiquities from Asia and Native American art, justice officials and local media said.
The museums raided included the prestigious Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego.
According to search warrants in the case, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the museums following an undercover probe that began in 2003 into a suspected smuggler and a Los Angeles-based art dealer.
The dealer is suspected of selling artifacts stolen from Native American reservations as well as Thailand and China, the search warrant said.
An undercover agent from the National Park Service posed as a collector to the two principal suspects in the case, who allegedly admitted their crimes and sold him recently stolen artifacts.
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