An attempt to smuggle 11 Graeco-Roman artefacts out of Cairo International Airport was foiled on Thursday when the Tourism and Antiquities Police arrested an Egyptian man at the customs section. The man claimed to be carrying replicas from Khan El-Khalili bazars. The pieces he was carried were reportedly stolen from an as yet unidentified archaeological site in Egypt.
The archaeological unite at the airport inspected the objects and approved their authenticity. The man has been arrested and the objects confiscated and taken to the Egyptian museum for inspection in order to ascertain what site they came from.
Hassan Rasmi head of the Antiquities Seizures Unit told Ahram Online that the confiscated objects consist of Graeco-Roman artefacts of different sizes, shapes and materials among them a collection of Terracotta (burned clay) statuettes depicting ancient Egyptians and Roman deities such as Isis, Osiris, Horus and Aphrodite. Terracotta statuettes featuring a seated child holding a pot in his hand and a standing woman holding a child within her hand are also among the confiscated collection along with two painted clay lamps, three faience, copper amulets depicting the face of the ancient Egyptian god Bes.
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