It’s taken a while, but India is finally welcoming home some long-lost national treasures. The U.S. has handed back more than 200 ancient artifacts, valued at more than $100 million, that were stolen from religious sites in India and smuggled out of the country.

The artifacts included religious statues, bronzes and terracotta pieces, some of them dating back more than 2,000 years. They were returned to the Indian government Monday at a Washington, D.C. ceremony attended by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “On behalf of President Obama, it is my great privilege to return these marvelous objects to the people of India,” Lynch said.

Most of the pieces were seized during Operation Hidden Idol, an investigation that began in 2007 after Homeland Security special agents received a tip about a shipment of seven crates destined for the United States and labeled as “marble garden table sets.”(CNN.COM/photo: cnn.com)…[+]