In March 2014, US customs officials in Ohio seized nearly 200 ancient Roman coins. The bronze coins were on their way to Rhode Island from the United Arab Emirates. They were an example of illegally trafficked cultural items, a "lucrative" enterprise, acting US Attorney William Weinreb said Wednesday. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials plan to keep going after "people out there who value profit over history," he added, standing next to Fabrizio Parrulli, brigadier general in the Italian Caribinieri.

On the other side of Weinreb were the coins, along with a medieval manuscript dating back to 1392, an illuminated leaf from another manuscript that dated back to 1418 and a book collecting the work of Bernardino Telesio, published in 1590. "They rightly belong in their country of origin," Weinreb said.