Thief steals ‘priceless’ ancient Egyptian artifacts from Australian museum

A thief broke into a small Australian museum and stole “priceless” ancient Egyptian artifacts on Friday, the Queensland Police Service said.

Police said the man smashed a window of the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Caboolture around 3 a.m. Friday morning and took the artifacts before fleeing the scene.

Photos of the artifacts taken were released by police.

The stolen items included a 2,600-year-old Egyptian cartonnage funerary mask, a painted figure of a cat representing the goddess Bast, a mummy collar decorated with the four sons of Horus, and a beaded necklace.

“We are devastated to advise that the museum was broken into last night, and several of our precious Egyptian artefacts have been taken,” the museum said in a statement.

“Please be aware this is currently an active police investigation, and we are working closely with Queensland Police Service in the hopes to retrieve our objects.”

The Abbey Museum said it would remain open as usual “with some adjustment to the Egyptian display.”

In a second statement, the museum thanked the community for an “outpouring of support.”

“As you can imagine, this has been a trying time for us, and we appreciate all your kind words and messages,” the museum said.

Police have asked anyone with any information relating to the incident or the whereabouts of the stolen property to contact them.

Follow along with other art crime stories at Urgent Matter’s art crime tracker.