Cairo: Egypt`s Ministry of Antiquities has announced that nearly a hundred small artifacts, some dating back to the time of the Pharaohs, have gone missing from a museum in the southernmost city of Aswan.
In Wednesday`s statement the ministry says 96 artifacts, mostly small figurines and beads, disappeared from the Aswan Museum`s storehouse.
Employees noticed a number of artifacts missing, the statement said. A committee looking into the theft checked the storehouse`s inventory and found that the lock on the inner door had been broken.
Officials in Aswan said the disappearance was a first for the museum, which hasn`t experienced the thefts that have plagued some other museums around the country throughout the unrest of the past three years.
They spoke anonymously as they weren`t authorised to brief the press.
