Alleged cat burglar arrested after priceless Egyptian artefacts taken in Queensland museum heist | Queensland

Queensland police have arrested a man accused of staging the brazen theft of priceless Egyptian artefacts from a museum in Caboolture, north of Brisbane.

The 52-year-old man, of no fixed address, was arrested on Russell Island in Moreton Bay on Saturday evening after police allegedly found most of the stolen artefacts in a caravan parked at the ferry terminal.

It was claimed that another missing piece, a 2,600-year-old wooden cat statue belonging to the 26th dynasty of ancient Egypt, was also found in his possession.

The arrest brings to an end a two-day search for items stolen from the Abbey Museum of Art and Archeology in Caboolture at around 3am on Friday morning.

In scenes reminiscent of the 2025 Louvre robbery, police said a thief broke a museum window and left with a number of items from the museum’s ancient Egypt exhibition. These included a 3,300-year-old necklace and a mummy mask.

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At about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, police said they found a vehicle of interest parked at the Cleveland ferry terminal, about 50 miles from the museum. Inside they found most of the stolen artifacts.

In the images published by the police, it is seen that the mummy mask was found in the vehicle. Wrapped in the flag of Venezuela.

It appears that the artifacts suffered only minor damage.

Later Sunday, police arrested the 52-year-old. He was charged with breaking and entering and three counts of malicious damage.

He was scheduled to appear in court on Monday.