LOS ANGELES, Nov 17: A US Army captain was charged on Friday with taking over $30,000 in bribes from contractors in Iraq and removing a piece of ancient pottery from an Iraqi archaeological site.

The US Justice Department accused Captain Cedar Lanmon, 30, of accepting money from two Iraqi citizens and an Albanian contractor in exchange for awarding them government contracts.

The authorities also alleged that Lanmon – a resident of the north-western US city of Tacoma who completed two tours of duty in Iraq – illegally brought an ancient artifact back to the United States.

“The artifact appears to be a piece of ancient pottery from the city of Ur, from an archaeological dig at a site believed to be the home of the biblical figure Abraham,” the department said in a statement.—AFP