Thieves rob Greece's Olympia museum

Athens - Thieves burst into a museum in Greece's ancient Olympia Friday and made off with dozens of artifacts of "incalculable value", media reports said.

The robbers entered the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, also known as New Museum, around 7.30 a.m. and when a female guard refused to hand over the pieces, she was tied up and gagged.

The robbers "approached the museum's guard, tied her hands and bound her mouth and then went into the museum, where they took 65 to 68 small clay and brass small statues, and a gold ring, and put them in a bag and left", CNN said quoting police.

Olympia - in southern Greece on the Peloponnese peninsula - is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, which were first held in 776 BC.

Greek culture minister Pavlos Geroulanos submitted his resignation following robbery, the prime minister's office said.