London Auction House Returns Stolen Fragment [UPDATE]

No naming and shaming here, what's new? A London auction house was selling a fragment of limestone relief with cartouche of the 18th dynasty ruler Amenhotep I. This fragment was originally exhibited at the open museum of the ancient temple of Karnak in the city of Luxor from where it had been stolen. There is no information when the object was stolen, or whether the person who had consigned the object had led police to the person that had supplied it. No information at all, just that the piece was on its way back to Egypt. In all likelihood, the owner, the middlemen from whom they obtained the item and the thief were not questioned.  The  Egyptian Embassy in London received the artefact in September (AP, 'Egypt repatriates smuggled ancient artifact from UK' Associated Press 8th Jan 2019).

UPDATE Egyptian Streets claims 'The stone-car[v]ed artifact [...]was smuggled out of Egypt in September" but this seems to be a misunderstanding of the AP text. In reality, it is not known when the piece left Egypt.