Nathalie, a French tourist, was arrested at Luxor airport and held in a police station for eight days. The statuette, which she had purchased in the shopping arcade of a luxury hotel, earned her a charge of possession and trafficking in antiquities.
“I was very attracted by this object, a small character dressed in a loincloth, seated, holding his hands on his knees, I had no idea that he would not bring me luck,” she told CNN.