Egyptian authorities have detained three people who tried to steal an ancient 10-ton statue of Pharaoh Ramses II from the ancient city of Aswan, in the south, using a crane, it was announced on Tuesday.
The Egyptian justice said in a statement it had ordered the arrest of three people over four days while the investigation is ongoing, accused of “attempting to steal a pharaonic statue” in the ancient city of Aswan, about 675 kilometers south. south of Cairo.
Police revealed, according to the statement, that “three people were arrested in possession of manual digging tools and heavy equipment, a crane,” which they used in an attempt to “lift the statue and excavate the region’s antiquities.”
The Aswan Antiquities Authority has proven “antiquity [da estátua] and attributed it to Ramses II, weighing about 10 tons,” the Egyptian justice added in the same note.
The Public Prosecution Service further stipulated that the police “immediately investigate other people associated with the suspects of the crime”.
Ramses II, one of the most famous pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty, reigned for 67 years. He was known as a great warrior and a prolific builder who ordered the construction of temples all over Egypt.
In the past decade, Egypt has recovered some 29,000 antiquities illegally taken from the country.
Source: DN
