Looted Gold Ingots From 1700s Shipwreck Returned To French Government

By CBS San Francisco Staff:

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Five gold ingots looted from the sunken wreck of a pre-Revolutionary vessel, smuggled into the United States and seized by federal agents in San Francisco were among a bounty of stolen artifacts returned to the French Government.

Homeland Security Investigations officials said among the items returned were a 3rd century gold coin, the five 18 century gold ingot taken from the ocean floor where they had remained for centuries and a human skull that was stolen from Paris’ catacombs.

“We are very grateful to the United States for the action taken by its services to return these artifacts and emphasize the quality of cooperation between the French and American customs, police, and judicial services in the fight against trafficking in cultural property,” said Phillippe Etienne, Ambassador of France to the United States.

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