Police in Italy have recovered a stolen 2000 year old Egyptian sphinx statue near Rome that about to be taken out of the country.
It was discovered boxed a greenhouse after police found photographs of Egyptian artefacts during a routine search of a vehicle.
The sphinx and other artefacts thought to have been stolen from an Etruscan cemetery were found during a search of the driver's house.
The statue is believed to have been stolen from Montem Rossulum near Viterbo, an Etruscan necropolis 100km from Rome.
The statue measures 120cm and 60cm.
Egyptian sculptures began to be shipped to Italy following the Roman conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC.
