Artifact thefts targeted by federal officials

Illicit back-room deals, negotiated prices and the flash of cash were caught on tape in the nation's largest undercover law enforcement operation of its kind.

The 2 1/2-year probe that spanned the reaches of the Four Corners area didn't deal in the trafficking of guns or the proffering of drugs: it was Native American heritage up for sale.

While the criminal prosecution of 24 defendants nabbed in an operation dubbed "Cerberus Action" has just begun, the looting of treasures held sacred by Utah's earliest inhabitants has been going on for years.

"It's a pretty big world out there of people who want the artifacts found around here," said Kevin Jones, the state's archaeologist. "But we are not making Anasazi pots anymore. They have not been made for a thousand years. And any time they wind up in a private collection or in the hands of looters, we will never see it, never learn from it and never be able to study it. They are people stealing our cultural heritage."

The significance of such a bust — it required additional money and resources when investigators learned how deep the network reached — brought out top government officials for Wednesday's press conference at the U.S. Attorney's office in Salt Lake City to declare war on looting.

"Let this case serve notice to anyone considering breaking these laws and trampling our nation's cultural heritage that the BLM, the Department of Justice and the federal government will track you down and bring you to justice," U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

Others warned it should serve as a "wake-up call" for those who think they can pilfer and then barter away sacred artifacts.

"Those who remove or damage artifacts on public or tribal lands take something sacred from all of us," said U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman .

The investigation largely hinged on the efforts of an inside source who had been "a major dealer" of illegal archaeological artifacts for 10 years prior to approaching law enforcement, according to a federal search warrant unsealed Wednesday.

Special agents used the source's contact list and trusted relationship with artifact dealers to widen their net of potential players.

On several occasions from March 2007 to November 2008, the source met with dealers and purchased 256 Native American artifacts for a total of $336,000, the warrant stated.

"In most cases, the source obtained audio and/or video evidence of the illegal transactions via an audio/video recording device worn by the source," the warrant said.

According to FBI and BLM officials, the source rooted out a large, tight-knit network that transcended dealers by including several "diggers" who regularly pillage village and burial sites — many unknown to the scientific community.