Egypt holds Briton over smuggling

The man was held at Cairo airport

A Briton is being held in Egypt after trying to smuggle 66 manuscripts out of the country, airport officials said.

The texts, identified by experts as being from the Islamic era, are said to have been subject to an export ban.

They were found in the man's luggage after an X-ray at Cairo airport as he headed for a flight to Paris.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities is clamping down on smugglers and has threatened to cut links with foreign museums that illegally buy artefacts.

Earlier this month seven Egyptians were jailed in Cairo after a seizure at London's Heathrow Airport uncovered the country's biggest antiquities smuggling case.

Officials said the documents seized from the Briton on Monday cover topics ranging from medicine to magic, as well as detailing excerpts from the Bible in both Arabic and the ancient language of Egypt's Christians.