CAIRO, Sept 10: Switzerland is to return a pharaoh’s “eye” stolen 36 years ago from the statue of King Amenhotep III, Egypt’s culture minister announced on Wednesday.

“The eye is around 50 centimetres long and was stolen from Amenhotep III’s statue, which was discovered in 1970 in his Luxor temple,” Faruk Hosni said in a statement.

The eye was stolen in 1972 when a fire broke out around the temple.

“The thieves sold it to an American antiquities dealer who then auctioned it at Sotheby’s,” he said.—AFP