Two months ago, the Lebanese Ministry of Culture announced that the Office of the New York County District Attorney notified them about a stolen sculpture that has been seized in July 2017.
The stolen antiquity is an ancient marble sculpture of a bull’s head that got looted from Lebanon during the civil war.
The 2,400-year-old statue was excavated from the Temple of Eshmun in 1967 in Sidon and stolen later in summer 1981.
According to sources, two additional stolen antiquities have been seized by a new antiquities trafficking unite in Manhattan. These two marble torsos were also stolen from the temple of Eshmun.
One dates back to the 4th century B.C. while the other dates back to the 6th century B.C. The three antiquities’ value is more than $5 million and they are now being returned to Lebanon.
The head of the District Attorney in Manhattan, Matthew Bogdanos, said that antiquities in war-torn countries are vulnerable to theft and end up being trafficked.
The Lebanese Ministry of Culture is actively working on repatriating the artifacts to Lebanon.
