THIEVES HAVE stolen 18 priceless artefacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, including two gilded statues of Tutankhamun, during the political unrest. Zahi Hawass, the antiquities minister, said the losses were discovered during an inventory of the museum after the protests died down.
Among missing items are a statue of Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess and another of him harpooning. Also stolen were a limestone statue of the pharaoh Akhenaten holding an offering table and a statue of Nefertiti making offerings.
Hawass said that an investigation was under way and that the "police and army plan to follow up with the criminals already in custody". – ( Guardian)
