For posterity, the reporting history is retained below:
Reuters report that the SCA warehouse was pillaged.
A group of looters attacked a warehouse at the Qantara Museum near the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal that contained 3,000 objects from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a source at the tourism police said.
…
A worker at the warehouse said the looters had said they were searching for gold. The worker told them there was no gold but they continued to pillage the storehouse, smashing some items and taking others.
Dr Hawass confirmed this report on 30th January that “East of Qantara in the Sinai, we have a large store containing antiquities from the Port Said Museum. Sadly, a large group, armed with guns and a truck, entered the store, opened the boxes in the magazine and took the precious objects.”
Dr Hawass reported on 1st February that 288 stolen objects had been returned (some reports say they were left in the streets) but said he was unaware how many had been stolen. On 4th February, he said the local inspector believed that the 288 objects were everthing that had been taken but quite reasonably stated that until it was possible to perform a full inventory that could not be confirmed. A further 6 items were subsequetly recovered.
On 3rd March Dr Hawass reported “A site in Northern Sinai was destroyed when looters arrived with a loader,” but gave not further details. It is unclear whether this is a repetition of the report of the attack on the site near Qantara or an as-yet-unidentified site.
By Kate Phizackerley