/ 18 August 1999

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES RETURNED

JORDAN’S minister for tourism and antiquities, Akel Beltaji, on Wednesday handed over to Egypt 28 Pharaonic and Roman antiquities that had been smuggled across the border. The objects, including scarabs, an amulet to the god Ptah and statuettes placed in the tombs of pharaohs and nobles, were seized earlier this year at the southern Red Sea port of Aqaba. A marble statue from the Ptolemic dynasty and dated to 100BC. was also among the objects which Beltaji handed over to the secretary general of Egypt’s state-run Supreme Council of Antiquities, Gaballah Ali Gaballah.