Egyptian antiquities officials arrested

Just in from Ananova:

An Egyptian official appointed to protect the country's archaeological treasures has been arrested on suspicion of taking a bribe to allow 362 of those treasures to be smuggled to Spain.

The arrests came after airport customs police discovered pieces from Egypt's pharaonic, Roman and Greek eras.

It included 288 icons, 13 bracelets, 60 small statues and the head of a large statue packed in a box for air shipping to a private dealer in Spain.

Airport officials said the merchant, Mohamed al-Shaaer, had a certificate from the government's Supreme Council of Antiquities identifying the items as modern fakes made in Cairo's main tourist bazaar.

Customs police arrested al-Shaaer, Abdel Karim Abu Shanab, the top Supreme Council of Antiquities official in charge of tracking stolen artifacts and Mohamed Abdel Rahman Fahmy, an antiquities council inspector.

Egypt has been taking a very hard line lately toward foreign buyers of illegally-exported antiquities, but it would seem that at least part of the problem lies closer to home.

Posted by David on January 26, 2003 2:14 PM