Around 60 thieves broke into the Selim Hassan artifact storehouse near the Pyramids on Monday, said Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass.
Hawass told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the army left the location when police were re-deployed, having been withdrawn by the government on 28 January. But the police are not protecting monuments, which makes them vulnerable to robbery, he said.
The ministry has set up a committee to determine what items have been stolen.
The only way to protect monuments is for the police to carry out their role, he said, but also asked citizens to protect the country's heritage.
Ali al-Asfar, director of the Pyramids heritage site, said the gang broke in after surrounding the guards, gagging and disarming them. He said that the store--closed since 1960--is underground and has three doors, one of stone, two of wood and iron.
Hawass said the thieves dug a small tunnel into the store, so were probably unable to remove larger boxes.
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^ LOL Though seriously this is really sad. No doubt these thieves ransacking Egypt's antiquities will sell them on the black market. I wouldn't be surprised if these same thieves keen on selling out their national heritage are the same ones proudly marching the streets proclaiming their national pride. Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Forty armed men attack Egypt antiquities store-MENA
Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:49pm GMT
CAIRO, March 5 (Reuters) - Forty armed men attacked an antiquities warehouse in the northern Egyptian city of Kafr el-Sheikh on Saturday, shooting at warehouse security men and injuring several, state news agency MENA said. The attack is the second attempt to rob Kafr el-Sheikh's Tal al-Faraeen (Hill of the Pharaohs) antiquities warehouse since Jan. 25, the first day of the nationwide protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11. Security in Egypt has been lax since the country's police forces withdrew from the streets on Jan. 28.
Many Egyptian policemen remain reluctant to return to the streets, fearing attacks by citizens still angry over clashes between demonstrators and security forces during the protests which led to the death of over 300 people.
The warehouse doors were destroyed as were display cases, MENA cited the Head of the Central Department of Lower Egyptian Antiquities Mohamed Abdel Maksoud as saying. Some of the attackers had been caught, while others had escaped, he said.
A committee had been formed to make an inventory of Tal al-Faraeen's artefacts and identify what was stolen, he said.
International gangs may be exploiting lack of security in Egypt given that several recent attacks on museums and antiquities sites had been organised by large armed groups, he said, and the ministry of culture has planned to move many antiquities to more secure places immediately. Ancient Egypt's culture, monuments, temples and pyramids of are a major draw for the country's tourism industry. (Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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81 artefacts missing from Egyptian museum and Tel El-Faraein
The final result of two inventories carried out at Tel El-Faraein storehouse in the Delta and the Egyptian museum in Tahrir Square, reveal the exact number of objects missing from both sites
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800 priceless Egypt artifacts still missing
By AFP March 25, 2011, 7:02 pm
CAIRO: Egyptian officials said on Friday that 800 priceless artifacts were still missing after armed robbers raided a warehouse near the canal city of Ismailia in the unrest following a popular revolt.
"An inventory of the East Qantara warehouse which houses antiquities from the provinces on the Suez Canal and Sinai has revealed the theft and damage of a large number of artifacts," said Mohamed Abdel Maqsood, an official with Supreme Council of Antiquities for north east Egypt.
"We found that 800 antiquities — which go back to the Pharaonic, Roman and Islamic periods — are still missing from the warehouse after 293 items were recovered," he said.
Abdel Maqsood said the survey also revealed that "several" artifacts unearthed by French, American and Polish archaeological teams had also been stolen.
Robbers raided several warehouses around the country, including the one in Cairo's world renowned Egyptian Museum, after an uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak gave way to looting and insecurity.
On Tuesday, the United Nations cultural body UNESCO voiced growing concern for Egypt's archaeological sites and museums.
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