An ancient mummified foot was handed back to Egypt after it was found on eBay Classified Ads and anonymously reported to police.
Police were alerted to the bizarre artefact, which included part of the lower leg, at the end of April.
The mummified body part, which an expert later confirmed came from Ancient Egypt, had been placed on eBay by a seller from Krefeld, Germany.
The seller – whose identity was not disclosed by media – had reportedly received the foot as a gift from his parents after they brought it to Germany from a holiday in Egypt in the early 1980s.
Officers immediately opened an investigation and hired Egyptologist Dr Robert Kuhn from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin to look into the find.
Dr Kuhn confirmed the authenticity of the foot and its origin but was unable to precisely estimate its exact age.
Police did not initiate criminal proceedings against the seller but said that the foot was probably illegally smuggled out of Egypt about 40 years ago.
They stated: “Ancient objects already had to be presented to an examination committee for an official export licence at that time. It did not contain any more human remains.”
After months of examinations, Krefeld Police chief Ursula Mecklenbrauck handed the mummified foot to the Egyptian ambassador to Germany, Khaled Galal Eldin Abdelhamid, in Berlin on Thursday, 8th September.
Mecklenbrauck said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “When it became clear that the mummified foot had not left Egypt legally, we immediately prepared the return together with the Egyptian Embassy.”
Police did not give information on when the foot would be taken back to its place of origin.
(Polizei Krefeld/Newsflash)
(Polizei Krefeld/Newsflash)
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: William McGee, Agency: Newsflash
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