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The Egyptian authorities announced that they arrested three people who tried to steal with the help of a crane a thousand-year-old statue weighing 10 tons of Pharaoh Ramses II, BTA reported. 

A statement issued by the prosecutor's office said three suspects had been ordered detained for four days pending investigation on charges of attempting to steal a pharaoh statue in the ancient southern city of Aswan, located on the Nile River about 675 kilometers south of Cairo.

A granite bust of Ramesses II was discovered in Egypt

According to the statement, police said "three people were arrested for possession of hand digging tools and heavy equipment - a crane, which they used in an attempt to lift the statue and excavate antiquities in the area."

The Aswan Office of Antiquities has proven the age of the 10-tonne statue, which it says is of Ramses II, the statement added.

The prosecutor's office ordered the police to "quickly investigate other persons related to the suspects in the crime." 

Ramses II, one of the most famous pharaohs of the 19th dynasty, ruled for 67 years.

He is known as a great warrior and builder who ordered the construction of temples throughout Egypt.

Over the past decade, Egypt has been able to recover about 29,000 antiquities that were illegally exported abroad.

Ramesses II

stolen statue