CAIRO: Egypt has succeeded in retrieving an ancient statue of Old Kingdom priest Nikaw-Ptah, which had been stolen and smuggled out of the country.

Egyptian authorities — in collaboration with the Egyptian Embassy in Amsterdam and the Dutch authorities — recovered the statue, which has now been handed over to a committee of experts at Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, general supervisor at the Department of Recovered Antiquities, said the statue was offered for sale at the annual European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

He said the statue was illegally excavated and was not from the collection of any museum or archaeological site of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The legless statue features the priest upright, wearing a short kilt, with his name engraved on his right arm.

Egypt’s Ministries of Tourism, Antiquities and Foreign Affairs thanked the Dutch authorities for their efforts and cooperation with the Egyptian Embassy at The Hague to repatriate the artifact to its home.

The ministries said they were looking forward to more permanent cooperation in combating the smuggling of antiques and more coordination for protecting cultural heritage.