Fifty held after bid to loot museum’s treasures

SOLDIERS detained about 50 men trying to break into the Egyptian National Museum in a fresh attempt to loot some of the country’s archaeological treasures, the military said yesterday.

Snipers were stationed on the roof of the building, and dozens of troops patrolled the grounds of the famed antiquities museum amid fears that the chaos sweeping Cairo could engulf the nation’s heritage. Some of the most intense anti-government protests in the past week happened near the museum.

Yesterday half a dozen suspected thieves lay in a group on the floor of the entrance, their faces covered by a blanket. Guards said they were caught trying to enter.

A military general at the museum said soldiers arrested about 35 men trying to break into the building on Sunday, and another 15 yesterday.

Troops said they were given orders not to shoot, but to protect the building and its contents.

The majority of the museum was intact, but there were signs of an earlier break-in.

On the second floor, one case containing a gold trinket, two small rods and other small artifacts was broken and another case was smashed on the first floor. The cases were next to the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamun that draws millions of tourists a year.

At the gift shop, broken glass, souvenirs and postcards littered the ground.

Looters broke into the museum on Friday, ripping the heads off two mummies and damaging about 75 small artifacts before soldiers caught them. It is understood the broken artifacts can be restored.

Museum director Tarek El Awady said the thieves appeared to be looking for gold, and didn’t understand the value of other artifacts.

The museum houses thousands of objects spanning the full sweep of Egypt’s rich pharaonic history.