Australian 90-year-old woman steals a large number of Middle Eastern cultural relics and uses her diplomatic status to cooperate with the archaeological team.

　　[Li Feng, a special correspondent of Global Times in Australia] A 95-year-old woman is being investigated by the Australian government because she brought a large number of cultural relics back to China when she participated in archaeological activities in Middle Eastern countries. According to the Australian national omni television reported on 26th, the old woman named Joan Howard was accused of stealing works of art from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Pakistan, and the value involved may exceed 1 million Australian dollars (about 5.02 million yuan).

　　Earlier this month, the old woman living in Perth revealed in an interview with The Western Australian that during her life in the Middle East with her husband who worked for the United Nations in the 1960s and 1970s, she took advantage of her diplomatic status to actively cooperate with archaeological teams from Britain and the United States to search for local cultural relics. In the interview, she boasted that she now has numerous cultural relics, including precious Egyptian funeral masks, Phoenician and Roman weapons, a 40,000-year-old Neolithic axe, and many ancient coins, seals and jewels. It is understood that Howard has never revealed his behavior and stolen cultural relics to others until he was interviewed in his octogenarian years. "Working with the archaeological team is a dirty job, but the rewards are rich."

　　After the news was disclosed, many people and archaeologists accused Howard’s behavior of plundering cultural relics. Hannah, a member of the Egyptian Cultural Relics Protection Working Group, sent an open letter to Australian Ambassador to Egypt Neil Hawkins on Facebook, accusing Howard of stealing Egyptian cultural relics. Hannah called Howard the real version of Tomb Raider, and she said with fierce words, "Howard’s piracy of many cultural relics is unacceptable, and she used her identity to violate all possible laws. I demand that the source of her collection be investigated and returned to Egypt." The Egyptian government also issued a note asking the Australian government to investigate Howard.

　　According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia had a record of returning cultural relics to Egypt before. In 2011, 122 abandoned Egyptian cultural relics were found in the warehouse of an auction house in Melbourne, and these cultural relics were later returned to Egypt.