Egyptian police arrested a former lawmaker and others on Thursday on allegations of illegal excavation and smuggling of 201 Pharaonic, Greek, and Roman artefacts, says interior ministry.
Security agencies “arrested a criminal gang headed by a person, who was previously charged in four cases, for illegally excavating sites nationwide… with the aim of smuggling and selling antiquities,” it said.
A 5-minute video which followed the statement listed the looted relics found in the men’s possession including “two wooden tablets engraved with hieroglyphics, 36 different statues of various lengths… 52 copper coins believed to be from the Greek and Roman periods… three black basalt plates”.
The eccentric ex-MP, who was a member of Egyptian tyrant Hosni Mubarak’s now-defunct party, claimed to have dabbled in black magic and exorcisms in local media.
Smuggling antiques in Egypt is punishable by life in jail and severe fines.
After a two-year operation collaborating with French judicial authorities, Egypt’s public prosecutor said on Wednesday that Cairo had recovered nearly 115 stolen items from Paris.
Despite the fact that the statement did not describe the exact contents of the hoard, a 15-minute video accompanying it featured Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities director Mostafa Waziri discussing some of the relics dating back to “old Egyptian civilisation across multiple centuries.”
Pharaonic busts, a gold-tinted sculpture of Amenhotep III, and a miniature colorful gilded coffin of the of the ancient sky god Horus, as well as pottery were among them.
Cairo has announced several major new archaeological discoveries in recent years, hoping to revive a vital tourism sector battered by a 2011 uprising, insurgent attacks and the coronavirus pandemic.
Egyptian authorities regularly unveil new discoveries and findings — sometimes without waiting for opinions and scientific analysis from archaeologists and experts.