Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, has said that 114 ancient Egyptian artefacts looted from Egypt and taken to France will be returned to Egypt soon. The artefacts were handed by the French authorities to the Egyptian Embassy in Paris.
Dr Waziri commended the close cooperation between the Egyptian Public Prosecution and French judicial authorities, also the efforts of the Egyptian government and Egypt’s Embassy in Paris, all of which culminated in recovery of the smuggled antiquities.
Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that retrieved artefacts date back to different eras of ancient Egypt. Among them is a statue of King Amenhotep III who ruled Egypt in 1386 – 1349BC, carrying the engraving in gold hieroglyphs: “Master of the Justice of Ra”. He added that these objects did not belong to museums or archaeological stores of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, but were the result of illegal excavations.
Joint investigations, he said, managed to stop attempts at selling the smuggled Egyptian antiquities on the market.
The Recovered antiquities were transferred by France’s Ministry of Interior to the Egyptian Embassy in Paris where they were examined under supervision of the Egyptian Public Prosecution, in preparation for transfer to Cairo.
Watani International
27 June 2021
Discussion about this post