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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Lifestyle
Asharq Al-Awsat

Spain Returns Smuggled Artifacts to Egypt

Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Spain returned 36 stolen antiquities to Egyptian officials on Monday, including figurines of gods and goddesses and ancient jars meant to hold human remains.

The artifacts - among them a granite carving of the lion's head of the warrior goddess Sekhmet - were taken illegally from archaeological sites, officials said.

Smugglers brought them to Spain where police seized then after an investigation in 2014.

Egypt's ambassador to Spain, Youssef Diaeldin Mekkawy, received them at a ceremony at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid.

"The recovery of these 36 archaeological pieces is a successful operation that has lasted years, an operation coordinated between Egyptian and Spanish authorities," Reuters quoted him as saying.

The artifacts, worth more than 150,000 euros ($170,000), were all probably looted from sites at Saqqara and Mit Rahina, Spanish police said.

Egypt and other states have stepped up campaigns for the return of artifacts taken by smugglers or looted by imperial powers.

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