EGYPT says three people have been detained for trying to steal a massive statue of an ancient Pharaoh – using a crane.
The prosecutor’s office said the three were found in possession of digging tools and the crane with which they had tried to lift the 10-tonne statue and excavate antiquities in the ancient city of Aswan.
The statue is of Ramses the Great, who died more than 3,000 years ago.
A probe is being held and there are orders to investigate any further accomplices.
In recent years Egypt’s managed to recover thousands of antiquities illegally taken abroad.
