Egyptian authorities announced Tuesday January 10 that they had arrested three people who tried to use a crane to steal a 10-ton millennial statue of Pharaoh Ramses II.
Prosecutors said in a statement they had “ordered the detention of three defendants for four days pending investigation” and accused them of “attempting to steal a pharaonic statue” in the ancient southern city of Aswan, about 675 kilometers south of Cairo, on the Nile. According to the statement, police reported that “three people were arrested in possession of hand digging tools and heavy equipment, as well as a crane” with which they had attempted to “lift the statue and excavate the antiquities of the area.”
“A weight of about 10 tons”
The Aswan Antiquities Authority has “proven the age (of the statue) and attributed it to Ramses II weighing about 10 tons,” the statement added. The prosecutor’s office directed the police to “promptly investigate other persons associated with the suspects in the crime.”
One of the most famous pharaohs of the 19th dynasty, Ramses II, reigned for 67 years. He was known as a great warrior and prolific builder, commanding the building of temples throughout Egypt. In the last ten years, Egypt has seized around 29,000 antiquities illegally shipped abroad.