Tutankhamun statues among priceless items stolen from Cairo museum

Egyptian minister says thieves targeted most-valuable artefacts after breaking in through roof and descending by ropes Thieves have stolen 18 priceless artefacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, including two gilded statues of King Tutankhamun, during the political unrest. Zahi Hawass, the antiquities minister, said the losses were discovered during an inventory of the museum after the protests died down. Among missing items are a statue of Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess and another of him harpooning. Also stolen is a limestone statue of the pharaoh Akhenaten holding an offering table, a statue of Nefertiti making offerings and several other stone and wooden artefacts. Hawass said that an investigation is underway and that the “police and army plan to follow up with the criminals already in custody”. The museum is on the edge of Tahrir square, the heart of three weeks of protests that brought down the president, Hosni Mubarak. It was raided on 28

Posted by on February 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry