On Friday afternoon, agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) raided a home in San Miguel of Naranjo, a coffee-producing region located in the province of Alajuela. The raid was the culmination of a week-long investigation related to crimes against the archaeological record of Costa Rica.

According to an official press release issued by OIJ, agents were notified about suspicious sales of pre-Columbian artifacts advertised for sale on Internet social networks. The notification came from officials at the National Museum of Costa Rica; who noticed social media updates related to ancient pottery and other archaeological items on sale.

An archaeology expert from the National Museum examined the high-resolution photos of the items and determined that they were indeed made by indigenous, pre-Columbian people of Costa Rica. The same archaeologist accompanied the OIJ agents to the raid in Naranjo, which unfolded without violence.

Inside the home, agents found more than 40 artifacts, which included corn grinding instruments, small tables crafted from stone, cuneiform tools, pottery vases made from clay, and even a few ocarinas in the shape of frogs and turtles. The archaeologist from the National Museum inspected the items; she was impressed with the cache of artifacts that will soon rejoin the archaelogical record of Costa Rica.

Aside from the aforementioned pre-Columbian treasure, the OIJ agents also confiscated two weapons from the home: one was a semiautomatic pistol and the other a shotgun, none of them had the required permits nor they checked against the national firearm registry.

The tenants of the home exercised their right to not talk to law enforcement during the raid; the owner of the house has been ordered to appear before prosecutors to explain the provenance of the items.