Italian Customs seize smuggled African Artifacts

Italian Customs Police said on Tuesday that they had intercepted a load of precious goods smuggled from Africa, including a Phoenician-Punic jug, possibly dating back to the third century BC.

The Guardia di Finanza Police found the goods in a container shipped to the Southern Italian Port of Salerno from Eritrea.

The container was marked as containing the “personal goods” of two returning Italian citizens.

Inside the container, officers also found rare corals and shells, accessories made of snake and crocodile skin, African and Asian ivory as well as almost 21,000 kilogrammes of contraband cigarettes.

The “huge” seizure was this year’s biggest of such objects, the Police said.

The two Italians were reported for criminal prosecution, but not arrested.