Suspicious fruit ship had 1,700 smuggled Egyptian artifacts on board, officials say

As ships came in and out of a port in eastern Egypt, something suspicious attracted the attention of local authorities.

A large cargo vessel was docked at the port of Nuweiba on the Red Sea, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in an Oct. 23 news release. The ship should have been carrying fruits — but it had something else onboard.

Authorities discovered 1,752 cultural artifacts in the process of being illegally smuggled, the ministry said.

Among the artifacts, archaeologists found a bronze statue of Aphrodite, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, the news release said. Photos show the greenish-blue figure standing with one hand to her heart.

Archaeologists and port security also found 1,722 coins weighing about 20 pounds. In the stash, bronze, silver and gold coins were found dating to the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic empires. Authorities also found multiple coin molds.

Egyptian authorities did not say if they identified the smugglers or if charges were filed.

Nuweiba, also spelled Nuweibaa, is on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, about 300 miles east of Cairo.

Google Translate and Facebook Translate were used to translate the news release from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

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