Flute virtuoso Boujemaa Razgui had just flown back to New York from Marrakech, Morocco after the holiday when U.S. customs officials at John F. Kennedy Airport asked to see his bag of flutes.

The officials proceeded to remove and smash each one of the 11 handmade flutes, stating that they were agricultural products, Razgui told Norman Lebrecht of ArtsJournal on Tuesday.

"I told them I had these instruments for many years and flew with them in and out," Razgui said to Lebrecht. "There were 11 instruments in all. They told me they were agricultural products and they had to be destroyed. There was nothing I could do."

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