Antiquities smuggling deal thwarted in Minya

CAIRO - 30 March 2020: The security services in Minya Governorate arrested a person in Malawi with 113 artifacts in his possession with the purpose of illegal trafficking.

Information and investigations of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Minya Police Directorate, in coordination with the Public Security Sector, confirmed that a person, residing in Malawi, Minya, had acquired some artifacts for the purpose of trafficking.

Upon completing the legal procedures, the defendant was targeted by a police force headed by the public security sector. The defendant was found in his residence and 113 artifacts and coins dating back to the Pharaonic, Roman and Greek eras were found in his possession.

The seizures were presented to the Minya Antiquities Inspectors, and are now subject to the provisions of the Antiquities Protection Law.

The defendant confessed in the investigations that he possessed the seized items for the purpose of trafficking and that he got them through excavations carried out in his residence. Legal action was then taken.

This comes within the framework of the efforts of the Ministry of Interior to combat crime in all its forms, especially combating crimes of possession of antiquities, illegal drilling and excavation.