Eight artefacts returned by Switzerland

Egypt State Information Service

Egypt will receive on 26/6/2009 eight archaeological artifacts that were smuggled outside the country in 2002, said an expert in a released statement on Thursday 25/6/2009.

The antiquities have been stolen from the storehouse of Cairo University in Maadi district, a Cairo suburb, said Dr Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

The eight pieces, dating back to the pre-history era, include stone utensils, he added.

The story started when a Swiss bought these artifacts from an antiquities dealer in the United States in 2005. When he came to know that they were stolen from Egypt he contacted the Egyptian embassy in Bern and expressed his willingness to give them back to Egypt.