Antiquities officials recovered two wooden artifacts from Israel that had been plucked out two ancient caskets dating to the Modern Kingdom. The pieces were found at a bazaar in Jerusalem.
Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Al-Masry Al-Youm that a task force formed by his ministry and the Foreign Ministry negotiated with the Israeli side through the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv for over a year. He said the process asserted Egypt’s right to the items which, he said, had been illegally smuggled out of the country.
Osama al-Nahas, general director for the retrieved antiquities department, said both pieces were discovered during a routine inspection by Israeli authorities in September. He said inspectors noticed that both bore signs of cutting with a chainsaw. Nahas explained that the bazar owner told inspectors that he had bought the items from a merchant in Dubai before he legally transferred them to Israel via London.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
