Wednesday 29 February 2012

Tourists caught 'smuggling ancient Egyptian artefacts' were actually carrying souvenirs

A British couple are on their way home after they were arrested at an Egyptian airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle antiquities out of the country before experts realised they were imitations bought at a local bazaar.

Officials at Luxor International Airport stopped Michael Newey, 65, and his wife Angela, 62, with 19 mementoes including Pharonic statues, a Greco-Roman bronze coin and a 16th century Bible.

During an examination of the items by the Ministry of Antiquities, Mrs Newey was said to have smashed three of them and the police were called.

But the pair, who are understood to have lived in Egypt for nine years, were released after it became apparent that the goods were fake, the Independent reported.

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