Smuggled Artifacts
Cultural Officer for the Middle East and Africa at the German Foreign Ministry Carsten Wilms handed over the artifacts to the Egyptian embassy in Berlin.
His official visit comes in support of the bilateral judicial cooperation file between the two countries, according to a statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The events of this case date back to November 2018.
The smuggled artifacts have been already handed over to Egypt’s Ambassador to Switzerland Wael Gad from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture in August last year, the ministry said in a statement.
The statue was excavated from tomb No. G 2415 in the Great Western Region, next to the Pyramid of Khufu [Cheops].
According to the PUNCH website, the Egyptian Government has offered to assist Nigeria in the preservation of the 1,130 looted Benin bronzes being expected in the country from Germany.
Egypt’s Ministries of Tourism & Antiquities and Foreign Affairs succeeded in recovering the legless statue of the priest "Ni Kao Ptah" from the era of the Old Kingdom.
The Committee of the Ministry of Antiquities is currently examining the 114 distinctive Egyptian artifacts, to clarify which era each piece belongs to.
Egypt's government cherishes every single part of its heritage and works diligently to bring back home any artifact that has gone out of the country illegally.
Egypt succeeded in retrieving the Egyptian artifact which was on its way to be sold in an auction hall in New York.
Egypt's ambassador to Bern stated that the embassy succeeded on Nov. 22 to recover two smuggled artifacts from Geneva, Switzerland.
Security agencies led by interior ministry foiled an attempt to smuggle 52 rare artifacts in Minya.
