Mexico City, Mexico – Police intercepted a U.S. citizen at the airport in the Mexican city of Merida as he was attempting to leave the country with five archeological artifacts, authorities said on Wednesday.
Officials said in a statement that federal police prevented Rafael Angel Cosme from departing on a commercial flight for Miami with the valuable ceramic objects, of which two are of pre-Columbian origin, two are from the colonial epoch and one is a replica.
They said that the recovery of the items, the value of which was not specified, was made possible after personnel from the National Anthropology and Mexican History Institute, or INAH, alerted police that Cosme might attempt to remove certain objects from the country.
Police said that Cosme was placed under arrest while authorities investigate the matter.
