UK returns smuggled ancient artifact to Iran

Iran’s chargé d’affaires to the United Kingdom says London has returned a third-century rock relief sculpture, which was gouged from a cliff in Iran and smuggled out of the country, to the Iranian embassy.

In a post on his Twitter account on Friday, Mehdi Hosseini Matin said the Iranian embassy had taken delivery of the antiquity, dating to the period of the Sasanian Empire (AD 224-651), after it was put on display at the British Museum for three months.

“The statue of the Sasanid soldier, which had been smuggled into Britain, was displayed temporarily at the British Museum for three months after Iran’s ownership was proven,” Hosseini Matin wrote.

“Today, the precious ancient work was officially delivered to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London. God willing, it will be sent soon to the beloved homeland.”

The ancient treasure had been seized by the British border police in January 2016 at Stansted Airport near London.

It was heading for the black market in Britain when it was confiscated by British border police officers upon growing suspicious of its haphazard packaging.

The unique relief, which is over one meter in height, depicts an imposing male figure.

Experts believe the artifact, reportedly worth more than £30 million, may have come from Iran’s southwestern Fars Province where a majority of Sasanian rock reliefs exist.

MG