Newsroom
Cyprus has handed back to Egypt 14 ancient artefacts stolen and smuggled abroad in the late 1980s after Cypriot authorities seized them.
Director of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, Marina Solomidou, handed over the smuggled pieces to the Egyptian authorities during the visit of President Anastasiades.
The items arrived in Cyprus in 1986 and were recovered in the Nicosia
The artefacts include an alabaster base "decorated with the name of King Ramses II in addition to 13 Ushabti figurines and amulets of different shapes," the Egyptian antiquities ministry said.
The subjects also include the goddesses Sekhmet, Neith, Isis, and the Udjat and Djed symbols.
Interpol had informed Egypt of the objects' seizure in 2017.
The ministry said that it ultimately succeeded "through diplomatic and legal efforts" to prove its ownership of these artefacts.
The items arrived in Cyprus in 1986 and were recovered in the Nicosia, it added.
The ministry received the artefacts on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the "Roots Revival" initiative that was held in Alexandria.
Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled Anani thanked the Cypriot authorities for their constant cooperation.
Egypt has been working effortlessly to preserve and retrieve its rich archaeological treasure and historical heritage, which will also help boost the once-flourishing tourism industry that has largely been affected by the political turmoil over the past five years.
