‘Looters have pillaged a number of warehouses containing ancient Egyptian artefacts, stealing and damaging some of them, archaeologists and warehouse workers said on Monday.
‘A group of looters attacked a warehouse at the Qantara Museum near the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal that contained 3,000 objects from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a source at the tourism police said.
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‘A worker at the warehouse said the looters had said they were searching for gold. The worker told them there was no gold but they continued to pillage the storehouse, smashing some items and taking others.
‘An archaeologist said warehouses near the pyramids of Saqqara and Abu Sir were also looted.
‘“At other locations, guards and villagers were able to successfully repel gangs of looters,” the archaeologist said.