The National's Sport cover for the Saturday, June 11 issue, featuring the scene at the Stade de France as the curtain was raised on Euro 2016.
Dimitri Payet's 89th-minute winner delivered a thrilling three points for France in the opener against Romania. Read Richard Jolly on how the West Ham United man continues to specialise in the spectacular:
“Just as France’s opening night threatened to end in anti-climax, salvation came in the form of quality.
“A rifled, rising 89th-minute shot from the playmaker secured victory. The man from the island of Reunion allowed a country to rejoice. He departed the Stade de France in tears of joy.
“His was a strike of beauty, a moment that perhaps proved Didier Deschamps first very wrong and then very right.”
More Euro 2016
• Full coverage: Visit The National's dedicated Euro 2016 microsite
• Complete guide: Previews, fixtures, predictions and more
• In pictures: Dimitri Payet and Olivier Giroud spring France to front
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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