Spain returns 'looted' Peruvian artefacts

Spain has returned 45 allegedly contraband pre-Columbian artefacts to Peru during a visit by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

Twelve of the artefacts returned yesterday were pieces “of high archaeological and artistic value” stolen from the Lords of Sipan tomb site in the 1980s, said Walter Alva, lead archaeologist on the dig. They include gold necklace pendants in the shape of an owl’s head and a toad, and an embossed gold sceptre.