LOC11:16
08:16 GMT
CAIRO, Aug 10 (KUNA) -- Egypt has reclaimed 13 relics from the United Kingdom and Germany as part of the state's policy to retrieve and preserve the nation's heritage and historical treasures.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration said in a statement on Sunday that London handed over to Cairo ten artifacts including a funerary tablet, an amulet, part of a bronze crown, a funerary mask and a number of black-stone amulets.
The treasures recovered from Germany include a human skull, hand of a mummy and an amulet that signifies life during the ancient times in Egypt.
The statement indicated that the British police had found and confiscated the relics after they had been smuggled out of Egypt by an international gang specialized in trafficking historical treasures.
It added that the Egyptian embassy in Berlin had received a notification from the Hamburg authorities, expressing desire to send back relics preserved in the city museum to Cairo after they discovered that they had been smuggled out of Egypt illegally. (end)
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