Pakistani-American to be jailed for 20 years in US

Ijaz Khan, 42, was convicted for multiple crimes, including smuggling ancient artefacts into the US from Pakistan

A Pakistani American, convicted by a US federal jury for multiple crimes, including smuggling ancient artefacts, may face 20 years in prison.

A statement issued by US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, revealed that Ijaz Khan, 42, of Sante Fe, New Mexico will be sentenced on May 5, along with Vera Lautt, 57.



"According to evidence presented at trial and court records, Khan was part of a conspiracy that smuggled ancient artefacts, including pottery and bronze weapons, which were stolen from burial sites, and coins from a cave temple in Pakistan called the Kashmir Smast," the statement read.

Khan and Lautt, also of Santa Fe, New Mexico, used their business, Indus Valley, to sell the artefacts. One shipment of artefacts was stopped at Dulles International Airport in October 2013. Ijaz and others then attempted to obtain the shipment by submitting various false and fraudulent documents to US Customs and Border Protection.

"Khan was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the US, procurement of citizenship, conspiracy to smuggle goods into the US, smuggling goods into the US, mail fraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and obstruction of an official proceeding. Lautt was convicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the US, and procurement of citizenship."



Further, not only did Khan and Lautt submit fraudulent documents to the US Department of State and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which enabled Khan to immigrate to the US in 2003, following which he later become a naturalised US citizen in 2009, but to take the conspiracy a step further, Khan and Lautt concealed Ijaz Khan’s wife and children in Pakistan.

Khan also used his citizenship for the immigration and naturalisation of his four eldest children.