The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has handed over 10 cultural artifacts to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, D.C., which were seized during an investigation in 2013-2014.
On August 7, the Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. announced on its website that the cultural artifacts returned by the FBI during the handover ceremony on August 5 included a vase, a set of 8 bronze tools, and a stone axe. These items were identified by the FBI as originating from Vietnam, though their exact age remains unclear.
An FBI representative stated that the artifacts were collected during an investigation conducted by the Cultural Property and Art Crime Team between 2013 and 2014.
Artifacts handed over by the FBI to the Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. on August 5. (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S.).
An American citizen involved in the case had unlawfully retained a collection of over 7,000 cultural artifacts. Before passing away, this individual expressed a desire to return these cultural artifacts to their original communities and countries.
This marks the largest seizure of cultural property in FBI history. The agency collaborated with numerous experts to classify, store, and assess the seized items to determine their origins.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. Nguyen Quoc Dung expressed gratitude to the U.S. government and relevant agencies for their efforts in international cooperation to combat transnational crime, including cultural and art crimes.
“The seizure, preservation, provenance determination, and return of a large number of cultural artifacts require a significant amount of time, effort, goodwill, and commitment from the U.S. in implementing United Nations conventions against transnational organized crime,” the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington stated.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. Nguyen Quoc Dung (third from the right) and FBI representatives at the artifact handover ceremony on August 5 in Washington. (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S.).
According to Ambassador Dung, Vietnam and the U.S. have recently implemented various cooperative activities and bilateral operational coordination based on the Memorandum of Understanding on combating transnational crime signed between the Ministry of Public Security and the FBI. In February, Minister of Public Security To Lam and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray held an online discussion regarding cooperation in combating transnational crime between the two countries.
After receiving the 10 artifacts from the FBI, the Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. will transport them back to Vietnam and hand them over to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as the Vietnam National Museum of History for examination, research, and display.
