CAIRO- Egypt’s Public Prosecution stated on Dec. 20 that it had seized 36 smuggled antiquities from Madrid in 2014. Egyptian authorities reported the recovery of 36 items smuggled to Madrid on Dec. 20 as part of their ongoing efforts to recover Egypt’s stolen, treasured antiques.
In a Facebook post on Dec. 20, the Public Prosecution stated that judicial collaboration between Egypt and Spain in combating this form of transnational crime resulted in the recovery of artefacts.
This is also “execution of the UN resolution that was released in October 2020 based on a request filed by the Egyptian Public Prosecution at the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime’s Conference of the Parties.”
“It also carries out the Egyptian Public Prosecution’s objective to establish an international instrument for the recovery of looted Egyptian artefacts as part of the Egyptian government’s strategy to safeguard the country’s history and resources.”
According to the Egyptian Public Prosecution, that investigation of this case started in June 2014 “when the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received notice from Spanish officials that 36 Egyptian artefacts from Alexandria had been seized in Valencia’s port.
The investigation by Public Prosecution’s recognised six defendants who brought smugglers into the court on charges of smuggling antiquities, and the court imprisoned them by using official documents.
“The handover of the artefacts that had been smuggled to Spain came after a major and joint effort by the Egyptian ministers of Foreign Affairs and Tourism and Antiquities, in cooperation with the Egyptian Public Prosecution and the judicial authorities in Madrid,” Magdy Shaker, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities chief archaeologist, told Al-Monitor.
“Those items were imported in a container, the criminals involved had been apprehended, and all documents establishing Egypt’s eligibility for the treasures had been filed.”
According to the Shaker, they recovered artefacts that gave the importance of historical artefacts, which includes the statue of god Amun with a double feather crown and one beautiful piece of the goddess Sekhmet and four jars were used by ancient Egyptians.
He added, we faced some difficulties in finding the smuggled pieces. The ministry said that they estimated 29,300 artefacts they recovered from abroad since 2011.
