New York, 10 August 2012
On 26 July 2012, inestimable statuettes seized by the American customs under information provided by the French customs, have been returned to Nigeria’s representatives in New York.
These are Nok statuettes from the first millennium before Christ and considered as national treasures by the African country. The case had started by a French customs control, in the Paris airport of Roissy, of a shipment coming from Burkina Faso and going to New York. This shipment was supposed to contain artisanal items of insignificant value. But, the shipment was in fact a statuette in two parts and two bronze items which triggered the interest of the French customs officers. The expertise of the Centre de recherche et de restauration des Musées de France (French museums’ centre for research and restoration) revealed that these were ancient cultural goods. Right after this, five statuettes declared as personal items travelling from Nigeria to New York drew the attention of the French customs again.
The Musées de France expertise again showed that these were Nok statuettes, a civilisation which appeared in Nigeria 1000 years before Christ and disappeared at the end of the first millennium, probably because of an epidemic or of a devastating famine.
The fight against the cultural heritage pillage is one of the French customs priorities which made 43 findings in this field last year.