Egypt

Egyptian delegation to inspect stolen antiquities

Egypt State Information Service

The official response by Zahi Hawass and the SCA to the information that stolen artefacts from the important prehistoric site of Maadi (in the Cairo suburbs) have been recovered in the U.S., and a pilot has been arrested over the case.

The museum from which the artefacts were apparently stolen was located at the excavation site, and there is a photograph of it on the Tour Egypt website's feature on Maadi, together with diagrams and photographs of the site itself.

Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni approved Saturday 9/2/2008 sending an Egyptian delegation from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) to New York City to examine antiquities stolen by a US Army helicopter pilot.

Chief Warrant Officer Edward George Johnson was arrested Tuesday in Alabama on charges of selling 370 Egyptian artifacts that were stolen from Cairo University excavation storehouse.

In statements on Saturday, SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawwas said he received a few hours ago an official letter from Mark Andrew, an official at the US Department of Homeland Security, in which Andrew informed him that some Egyptians and Americans were involved in the case.

The US official said they helped the pilot smuggle 80 pieces of antiquities.

Hawwas said a picture of the US pilot will be shown to Horya Abdel-Baqi, a storekeeper at the Cairo University excavation storehouse in Maadi, southern Cairo, from where the artifacts were stolen.

After the artifacts were discovered missing from the storehouse in 1987, Ms Abdel-Baqi became prime suspect.

According to US authorities, Johnson could not identify his accomplices, Hawwas said.

During a meeting with a US official in New York six months ago, Hawwas asked for secrecy until evidence against the suspect was established.

Hawwas said he asked the US authorities to unveil circumstances surrounding the case now in order to identify other defendants.

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Egypt