Egyptian artefacts seized

Ancient Egyptian coins Cairo - Arabstoday The archaeological committee of the central administration for confiscated antiquities, led by Youssef Khalifa, verified the authenticity of a collection of ancient Egyptian objects that were found in the possession of three people in Giza. The Tourism and Antiquities Police (TAP) was conducting its routine work to search for artefacts that were reported missing from several archaeological sites in Egypt in the aftermath of Egypt’s 2011 revolution. When the police caught the people with the objects, the TAP called the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) to inspect them and check on their authenticity. Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim revealed on Monday that 70 out of the more than 110 objects found were authenticated, including:     A collection of 17 late pharaonic period amulets, depicting the lioness goddess of joy and blessings, Sekhmet; the god of the universe, Toth; goddess of magic and life, Isis; god of the afterlife, Osiris and the fertility goddess, Tawert     nine eye scarabs     rings     bronze spoons     many coloured seeds of different shapes and sizes     two sets of Roman and Islamic bronze coins     glass bottles Khalifa said that these objects were not registered with the ministry’s antiquities list, which means that they were stolen from illicit digging in archaeological sites. The artefacts will be restored in a step towards displaying them at the museological store on Egypt’s Giza plateau.