At the end of January Dr Lehner’s team witnessed an attempted break in at Giza but this was unsuccessful. The status of the greater Giza site is unknown. Dr Gerry Scott of ARCE has reported damage to antiquities on the site, and Dr Hawass on 27th March said, “The site is being taken over by camel and horse drivers; they are even attacking tombs. I do not know I [sic] anyone can stop people from damaging these sites.”
In a NY Times interview, Dr Hawass reports that two Giza warehouses, on southern side of the ramp of the second pyramid of Khafre, were broken in to on 1st March 2011. This was further reported by Bloomberg:
Gang members tied up and threatened to kill six guards and a policeman in the area, the Cairo-based news agency said, citing an antiquities ministry statement. The ministry is waiting for prosecutors to inspect the scene and has yet to take an inventory of the items remaining in the warehouses, MENA said, citing antiquities official Ali al-Asfar.
And in Ahram Online:
The thieves tied up the site’s six guards and a policeman and threatened to kill them. They succeeded to enter the storehouse, which is a plain rock hewn tomb. They broke the iron and wooden gates of the storage site, stealing several artefacts. The storage site included collections discovered in 1929 and 1986.
Further details emerged on 3rd March in a report by Dr Hawass:
At Giza, near the Great Sphinx, the looters broke into the tomb of Impy. Vandals also attempted to destroy other buildings and tombs in Giza, but they were unsuccessful.
The dates of these attacks remain unknown. Sarah Marei, writing in The Art Newspaper, has reproduced a photogaph showing that areas right against the Giz pyramids have been targets, in an article which describes efforts by site officials to move items to storage which is easier to protect at night.
By Kate Phizackerley
70 artefacts were recouvered by the pocile in Giza during routine inspections with three people. More details are linked here:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/45522/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Seventy-Egyptian-artefacts-found-in-illegal-posses.aspx
As a resident of Dahshur, I am told that digging is done almost every night.
News from Zahi Hawass dating march 27th:
“What upsets me the most is what is happening at Giza. The site is being taken over by camel and horse drivers; they are even attacking tombs.”
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/update-qantara-east-and-archaeological-sites
More specific details about the looting at a Giza storehouse:
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/335684
Just to back up the above comment
“Director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) Dr. Gerry Scott:
According to Scott, some antiquities have been damage at the Giza Pyramids, where Mark Lehner and his team are currently working.
“I’ve heard that the team lost some equipment and that there was some damage to the antiquities but I do not know the extent of that at this point,” he said.
Lehner’s team has halted their work for the time being. “The latest I’ve heard is that they are not working until the SCA [Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities] has had a chance to record what’s happened there.”
Scott did not know the exact amount of damages but the Egyptian army is currently guarding the pyramids where access has been restricted. ”
Source:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkingpyramids.com%2F&rct=j&q=egypt looting storage magazines&ei=XEdHTZ_nD4eAhAfomMiyAQ&usg=AFQjCNHxHCunMH2E0pUAgLIaYb7uf5ak5w&sig2=Lon6OYy1xYS0ad5aljbiMw&cad=rja
Regards,
Stuart