The Greek Cypriot administration has handed back to Egypt 14 ancient artifacts stolen and smuggled abroad in the late 1980s after authorities on the Mediterranean island seized them, Egypt's government said Tuesday.
The artifacts include an alabaster vase "decorated with the name of King Ramses II in addition to 13 ushabti figurines and amulets of different shapes," the antiquities ministry said, citing an official.
Interpol had informed Egypt of the objects' seizure in 2017, the ministry said.
The ministry said that it ultimately succeeded "through diplomatic and legal efforts" to prove its ownership of these artifacts.
The items arrived in Cyprus in 1986 and were recovered in the capital Nicosia, it added.
It did not say when the artifacts were returned exactly, but that it took place at an event in Egypt attended by Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and his Greek and Cypriot counterparts.
Sissi met Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Alexandria on Monday and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday.
