looted ancient sarcophagus has been returned to Egypt from the United States

A looted ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus that was on display at a United State US museum has been returned to Egypt.

The 2.9meters long Green Coffin dates back to the Late Dynastic Period, which spanned 664BC to 332BC, and belonged to a priest called Ankhenmaat before it was looted from the ABU Sir necropolis in north Egypt by a global art trafficking network, which smuggled it through Germany into the US in 2008.

A collector loaned it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2013.

The sarcophagus was repatriated after an investigation that lasted several years and was formally handed over by US diplomats at a ceremony in Cairo yesterday.