About 3,800 artifacts that were illegally smuggled to retailer Hobby Lobby Stores Inc will be returned to Iraqi officials in Washington on Wednesday. The artifacts include Sumerian cuneiform tablets dating to 2100 B.C.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement, Iraqi Ambassador Fareed Yasseen and Deputy Foreign Minister Nazar Al-Khairullah are scheduled to attend Wednesday’s handover.
Hobby Lobby is the Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts retailer.