Smuggler Who Had Artifacts in His Luggage Gets Prison
A U.S. citizen has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for smuggling nearly 600 ancient Egyptian artifacts into the United States. Ashraf Omar Eldarir, originally from Egypt, was caught in early 2020 at New York’s JFK Airport with suitcases full of looted antiquities—some still smelling of soil, according to USA Today.
Federal prosecutors said Eldarir worked directly with tomb raiders in Egypt, using cellphone videos from grave sites to select which artifacts to purchase. He then created forged documents to fabricate the items’ provenance, often claiming they had been passed down from his grandfather and brought to the U.S. before Egypt banned the export of antiquities in 1948.
Over the course of eight years, Eldarir is accused of selling about 500 artifacts through well-known New York auction houses, earning over $600,000 using falsified paperwork.
Prosecutors described the smuggling scheme as “blatant.” At the time of his indictment, a U.S. attorney remarked that “these cultural treasures traveled across centuries and millennia, only to end up unceremoniously stuffed in a dirt-caked suitcase at JFK,” according to The New York Times.
Judge Rachel Kovner opted not to impose a fine during sentencing, noting that Egyptian authorities had already confiscated Eldarir’s assets.
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