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The five artefacts displayed at the handover ceremony. Image Credit: Al Rai

Cairo: Kuwait has handed over to Egypt five ancient artefacts that were seized at Kuwait airport in a smuggling attempt in 2019.

Three of the pieces had been verified by experts at the Kuwait University, while the two others were identified by a Polish expert, Sultan Al Dawish, the head of the Antiquities and Museums at Kuwait’s National Council of Culture, Arts and Literature said on the sidelines of the handover ceremony at the Kuwait National Museum.

In 2018, Kuwait had handed over to Egypt a wooden pharaonic sarcophagus seized by Kuwaiti customs officers, he added.

The latest artefacts were handed over to Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait Osama Shaltut, who commended “close cooperation” between both countries.

He was quoted by Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai as saying that Egypt is investigating how the pieces, seized in Kuwait, had been smuggled.