French customs officers at a Paris airport have seized more than 5 600 prehistoric artefacts, believed to have been looted from archeological sites in Niger’s desert, the economy ministry has announced.
The objects consisted of 5 530 stone arrow heads and 90 other carved stones from the neolithic era and were found, ”in very good condition” in the luggage of a passenger who flew in from Niamey on March 29, according to a government statement released on Friday.
The passenger, a Mali national aged 42, initially told customs officers he had picked them at several sites in the Niger desert and planned to export them to the United States.
Questioned further, he said he had aimed to sell them in France.
The artefacts, ”summarily wrapped in plastic bags” and weighing 23,4kg, were confirmed to be genuine items from the Saharan neolithic period (8 000-3 000 BC) by an expert from the French institute of human paleontology.
The excellent state in which such objects are sometimes found is explained by the way they are ”buried for thousands of years, then sometimes revealed by sandstorms,” the statement said.
Niger is a signatory to a UN Scientific, Cultural and Educational Organisation ban on the illegal export and transport of cultural artefacts. – Sapa-AFP