Algeria says seizes Sahara artefacts from visitors

ALGIERS, Feb 10 (Reuters) Algerian authorities seized 250 archeological artefacts about to be smuggled abroad by foreigners visiting the Sahara desert last month, a government newspaper said today.

El Moudjahid daily did not identify the nationalities of the foreigners but said customs services recovered the pieces at an airport in the southern province of Tamanrasset, 1,700 km south of the capital Algiers.

The newspaper said that last year 3,200 artefacts were seized from visitors in the same region, which welcomes thousands of mainly-European tourists every year keen to visit stunning Saharan scenery and folklore.

REUTERS AB RAI1939