Mughal Manuscript Thief Arrested

[Bianca]

A painting from the Mughal period 









                                              Mughal manuscripts thief arrested






AlArabOnLine
Jan. 20, 2009

Egyptian authorities have seized stolen pages torn from an illustrated Mughal-era manuscript from an Australian woman trying to smuggle them out of the country, Egypt's antiquities authority said.

Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist and the general secretary of the Supreme Antiquities Council, said in a statement the pages may be from a book dating from the Indian Mughal period, which began around the early 16th century.

The manuscripts will be returned to the Islamic Arts Museum in Cairo, the statement said.

Egypt is home to some of the world's richest antiquities including pharaonic treasures, Roman ruins and Judeo-Christian and Islamic artefacts.

Egypt has launched several campaigns in recent years to secure the return of antiquities illegally removed from the most populous Arab country.

Since 2002, it has succeeded in bringing home around 5,000 stolen or smuggled artefacts, the ministry of culture said.