Attempt to smuggle Egyptian artifacts from Damietta thwartedConfiscation of smuggled Greco-Roman artifacts in Damietta:

CAIRO - 7 April 2017: The general directorate of customs in Damietta, an Egyptian governorate located 200km north of Cairo, succeeded in confiscating a container full of ancient artifacts before it was shipped to Spain,

Youm7 reported Wednesday

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The container, numbered TGHU717793 under the name of an anonymous Egyptian Export and Import Company, was registered as a package of 331 wooden furniture and pottery pieces in the customs declaration, a form of all goods entering/exiting a nation’s border. Employees discovered the artifacts in the container during inspecting the customs declaration.

The Egyptian Committee of Antiquities examined the confiscated artifacts on April 5 and reported that the artifacts date back to the Greco-Roman and late Byzantium era in Egypt. The artifacts are temporarily being stored in customs until the Ministry of Antiquities is officially permitted to take ownership.