Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Olfat Farah said France is returning to Egypt 235 historical artifacts that have been seized by the Charles de Gaulle International Airport customs authorities.
The director of the Recovered Antiquities Department has prepared a report about the pieces that will be delivered to him during his current visit to Paris to return them to Egypt within a few days.
Meanwhile, the US Customs officials have returned on Thursday an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus that dates back to the Greco-Roman era found in a garage in Brooklyn in 2009. They are also returning ancient coins, wooden models of boats and an inscription on limestone that was stolen from an Egyptian temple.
The US Customs have for five years been carrying out an operation called “Curse of the Mummy” through which they have returned some 7,000 historical artifacts from all over the world.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
