A wanted Lebanese antiquities dealer has been arrested in Bulgaria over accusations he stole ancient Egyptian artefacts and slipped them out of the country in recent years, Egypt's Culture Ministry said on Thursday. Ali Abu Taam, arrested on Wednesday with help from Interpol, was accused of helping a convicted antiquities thief smuggle 280 artefacts out of Egypt by mislabelling them as glass bottles or hiding them in boxes of toys and electronics marked as exports.

An Australian teacher who stuffed his luggage with 2,000-year old animal mummies and religious figurines wrapped as gifts was arrested Wednesday, an Egyptian airport security official said.

Dayton police said someone stole an ancient Egyptian necklace from the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. The necklace, made from carnelian gems, was donated in the 1940s, but it is believed to be several thousand years old.

Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif issued a decree on the formation of a national committee for the restoration of illegally trafficked artifacts from Egypt. The committee is composed of 8 representatives from concerned ministries and agencies, along with a group of experts in the international law and antiquities.

Egypt has demanded the US to return 80 artifacts dating back to the pre-dynastic era, which were stolen by a US pilot during a visit to the country, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas said after he returned from the United States where he delivered his testimony in a case brought by Egypt against a US pilot accused of smuggling the artifacts from the country.

Wrapped in layers of linen and decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the mummies were found in the southern province of Minya, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. The three smugglers confessed that they carried the mummies in a truck to Fayyoum earlier on the day to sell them to other antiquities brokers, the official said.

A U.S. Army helicopter pilot once stationed in Cairo will face charges of selling dozens of stolen Egyptian antiquities to a Texas art dealer, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. According to the complaint, Johnson was stationed in Cairo in September 2002, when 370 pre-dynastic artifacts were stolen from the Ma'adi Museum near Cairo. The Ma'adi antiquities, which date to 3000 B.C. and earlier, had been excavated from an archeological site in Egypt during the 1920s to 1930s.