LACMA, other museums raided by feds *

Search warrants were served on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena's Pacific Asia Museum, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego about 7:30 this morning. It's part of a five-year investigation into an alleged smuggling pipeline that "authorities say funneled looted Southeast Asian and Native American artifacts into local museums," says the Times.

The warrants gave agents broad authority to search the museums' galleries, offices, storage areas and computer archives for objects and records related to the primary targets of the investigation: an alleged art smuggler, Robert Olson, and the owner of a Los Angeles Asian art gallery, Jonathan Markell. Markell's Silk Roads Gallery on La Brea Avenue was also raided.

The warrants are based on an undercover investigation by an unnamed agent with the National Park Service, who presented himself as an eager new collector to Olson and Markell. Both men allegedly admitted their illegal activities to the agent and sold him recently looted objects.

More than thirty agents were at LACMA with computer equipment and printers. Sharon Waxman has a blog post on the raid. Both she and Jason Felch, the byline on the Times' web story, are working on books about the museum trade. Waxman is scheduled to be on KPCC's "Patt Morrison" talking about the news. And: Felch will be on KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?" at 7 pm.

* Fix: The agencies involved were Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue and the National Park Service, but not the FBI.