ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 63

Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Sunday, April 19, 2015

Egypt recovers ancient artifacts smuggled to US

19 April 2015, 7:59 pm 0 Edit

Egypt says it has recovered 123 ancient artifacts that had been smuggled outside the country and were later confiscated in New York.

Egypt’s major archaeological sites were targeted for looting after the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Thousands of artifacts, most obtained from illicit digs, later surfaced on the international market, at auction and on websites.

The 123 arteficts to be returned were “illegally taken outside Egypt, and have been confiscated by the US customs authority in New York,” Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damati says in a statement.

“Egypt proved its ownership of the artifacts and the United States has decided to return them.”

— AFP