Sudanese museum suffers massive looting, as tens of thousands of artifacts stolen

Tens of thousands of artifacts have been stolen from a Sudanese museum that is considered one of Africa’s most significant, according to a museum official.

The official from the National Museum in Khartoum stated that satellite images from last year revealed trucks filled with artifacts leaving the museum and heading toward Sudan’s borders, including the one with South Sudan.

Earlier this month, Sudan’s national broadcaster reported that the museum had been the target of a “large-scale looting and smuggling operation.”

The museum’s collection, which exceeds 100,000 items, includes embalmed mummies dating back to 2,500 BC, some of the oldest and most archaeologically significant in the world, along with statues, pottery, and ancient murals, representing artifacts from the Stone Age through to the Christian and Islamic periods.