Police in Queensland, Australia, have arrested a man suspected of stealing precious Egyptian artifacts from a museum outside of Brisbane.
According to local reports, the 52-year-old man was arrested Saturday on Russell Island in Moreton Bay after police discovered part of the stolen haul in a camper van parked at a ferry terminal. Among the recovered items was a 2,600-year-old wooden cat figure from Egypt’s 26th Dynasty, the last dynasty ruled by a native Egyptian pharaoh before the Persian conquest.
Police apprehended the suspect within two days and returned most of the artifacts to the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Caboolture. Authorities said he entered through a smashed window facing its ancient Egyptian exhibition on Friday in what investigators described as a brazen break-in reminiscent of the 2025 Louvre heist.
The artifacts stolen in Caboolture also included a 3,300-year-old necklace and a mummy mask, later discovered inside the camper wrapped in a Venezuelan flag. Both objects have since been recovered and appear to have suffered only minor damage.
Police arrested the suspect Sunday and charged him with breaking and entering, as well as three counts of willful damage.
