Stolen Ancient Egyptian artefacts to return next week

Next week, the US will be returning to Egypt a collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country a few years ago. The problem with these artefacts was that in the absence of a proper MOU, it was really very difficult to prove Egypt’s ownership since they had been uncovered during illegal excavations in remote Egyptian archaeological sites.

Three years of diplomatic negotiations, however, during which existing ownership documents presented by the person claiming possession were proven forged, have finally yielded results with Egypt's imminent recovery of the stolen objects. The objects in question, according to Ibrahim, were monitored by the New York customs in 2011, during a failed attempt to smuggle them inside the US.

The items include a collection of wooden painted pieces of a sarcophagus from the Late Ancient Egyptian Period; a wooden sarcophagus from the Graeco-Roman era; a collection of wooden boats from the Middle Kingdom and limestone statuettes from the Third Intermediate Period.

Nevine El-Aref, 'Stolen Ancient Egyptian artefacts to return next week', 25 Dec 2013.