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Yemeni authorities are to lodge a formal protest with a European government after antiquities were found in a diplomat's baggage at Sanaa international airport, the official Saba news agency said Friday.
The works of art, which date back to the pre-Islamic period, were confiscated as the envoy prepared to board a Frankfurt-bound flight, the news agency said, without specifying the diplomat's nationality.
"Because of the European diplomat's diplomatic immunity, a report will be sent to the foreign ministry so that the necessary measures can be taken," the airport's security director Colonel Abdel Wahab al-Kinai told the news agency.
Yemen was a centre of ancient civilisation before the Islamic era, including the historic land of Sheba mentioned in the Bible, whose queen married King Solomon, according to Christian tradition.
A number of Yemeni cities are classified as world heritage sites by UNESCO, including the old city of Sanaa and the ancient cities of the eastern region of Hadramawt.
ht/kir
Yemen-antiquities-smuggling
AFP 131851 GMT 10 06
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