Indictments in an unprecedented two-year undercover operation led by agents from Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the FBI were announced at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.  Law officers from BLM, FBI, and U.S. Marshals, joined by local and state law enforcement partners, began arresting 23 individuals and executing a dozen search warrants in four states, rounding up what prosecutors called a ring of archeological grave robbers in the nation’s largest investigation of archaeological and cultural artifact thefts.  Federal agents have identified more than 250 artifacts stolen by the ring, with an estimate value exceeding $335,000, including decorated Anasazi pottery, burial and ceremonial masks, a buffalo headdress, and ancient sandals known to be associated with Native American burials.