Smuggling attempt of 52 artifacts is obstructed

CAIRO – 7 May 2017: A total of 35 archaeological artifacts were seized by Tourism and Antiquities Police on Sunday in Upper Egypt’s Minya, a day after returning 17 other artifacts from Cairo back to Luxor in another disrupted smuggling attempt.

Minya Artifacts Police has raided a man’s house where they found the Ushabtis (antique figurines), according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on Sunday.

Ushabti figures, from an ancient Egyptian term meaning ‘to answer,’ were originally placed inside tombs, pyramids and graves for the purpose of serving the pharaoh in the afterlife.

While in the Qena governorate, southern Egypt, the security forces seized 17 archaeological statues found in a car that was heading from Luxor to Cairo.