Officials return 100+ stolen Mexican artifacts recovered in Ft. Stockton

ALPINE, Texas (KVIA) -- Homeland Security Investigations recovered 100 pre-Columbian archaeological artifacts stolen from a collection in Mexico.

Investigators returned the artifacts to the Mexican government in a ceremony at the Museum of the Big Bend on the Sul Ross State University campus August 22, 2023. The items included a terracotta figurine, several arrowheads and spear points, a Spanish silver coin, and many others. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History examined and authenticated the newly returned antiquities.

"The antiquities were stolen in 2008 from a private collection and museum in Cuatro Cienegas, Coahuila, Mexico," an HSI spokesperson said in a statement. "In 2009, HSI special agents assigned to the Alpine suboffice seized hundreds of pieces that had been smuggled into the country. In 2012, many of the artifacts were returned to Mexico." The remainder of the artifacts were returned Tuesday.

In 2009, undercover agents in Fort Stockton recovered the stolen artifacts from Antonio Javier Reyes, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas on smuggling charges in 2011. That indictment was later dismissed, although officials kept the artifacts.

"A U.S.-Mexico treaty of cooperation regarding the recovery and return of stolen archaeological, historical, and cultural properties, which was negotiated by the U.S. Department of State and enacted in 1970, restricts the importation of pre-Columbian artifacts and colonial-era religious objects into the United States without proper export documents," the HSI spokesperson explained.

“Homeland Security Investigations is committed to working with Mexico and other countries to ensure that their cultural antiquities and heritage are preserved for future generations,” El Paso Special Agent in Charge Francisco B. Burrola said the day of the ceremony. “The pieces returned today are rare treasures of past civilizations that should be enjoyed by everyone, not by a few interested only in lining their pockets.”

HSI officials say they have recovered and repatriated over 20,000 culturally and historically significant objects to dozens of nations and institutions since 2007. In fiscal year 2022 alone, the agency has returned objects to France, India, Italy, Mali, and several other countries.