Shipment of Bronze Age era swords, arrowheads seized by Customs and Border Patrol in Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA -- A shipment of ancient weapons intercepted at Philadelphia International Airport has been seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after officials determined the items were likely smuggled cultural artifacts originating from Iran.

CBP officers discovered the dozens of swords and arrowheads during a routine cargo inspection in October.

The shipment had arrived on a cargo flight from the United Arab Emirates and was bound for Jacksonville, Florida. Officials initially detained the items and turned them over to a local archaeologist for evaluation, a process that took several months.

Robert Wittman, a former FBI art crime investigator from Delaware County, Pennsylvania who helped establish the bureau's art crimes team, said the discovery underscores the scale of the global black market for stolen antiquities. He said federal agencies have specialized teams dedicated to investigating the illegal trade of cultural artifacts.

"In this particular case, it was basically just CBP doing their job; they might have been looking for drugs or some other type of weapons that were being smuggled into the country," Wittman said.

The archaeologist from a local Philadelphia university, who did not want to be identified, dated the artifacts to between 1600 and 1000 BCE from an area near the Caspian Sea in Iran. The items are believed to have been illegally excavated from ancient burial sites.

Wittman said objects of that age and origin can command significant prices.

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"So you might be looking at maybe, at least six figures, hundreds of thousands of dollars in value," he said.

Wittman emphasized the broader cultural cost of such thefts.

"When you start stealing cultural heritage from other countries, when this material goes out to other countries, they lose their history. They lose their civilizations, and as a result, the whole world loses it," he said.

CBP formally seized the artifacts in February after the archaeological review concluded they were likely obtained illegally. The United States has agreements with 30 countries to facilitate the return of smuggled cultural property, but Iran is not among them.

Officials said the items will remain in CBP custody until a determination is made about their disposition.

CBP said no charges are currently being pursued.