Counselor Sameh Kamal, head of the Administrative Prosecution Authority, ordered the referral of an antiquities inspector in the Mit Rahina antiquities area, affiliated to the Ministry of Antiquities, two security representatives in the Mit Rahina antiquities area, affiliated with the Ministry of Antiquities, and a security superintendent in the Mit Rahina antiquities area affiliated to the Ministry of Antiquities, for urgent trial.
The prosecution charged them with the unlawful seizure of an archaeological statue, which was discovered during the work of the American archaeological mission in the Mit Rahina region in the course of 2011 and delivered to him on November 2, 2011 in the box containing five artifacts, and this statue was replaced by another imitation and non-antique, and he sold the statue The original archaeological statue and its smuggling outside the country in participation with the rest of the violators, and to participate by way of agreement and assistance with the first accused in unlawfully seizing the original archaeological statue under investigation, replacing it with another imitation and non-antique, selling it and smuggling the original statue outside the country.
The prosecution had received a report from the Supreme Public Funds Prosecution about the establishment of “Ana Nafartis”, a member of the American mission in the Mit Rahina region, in 2011, that Najwan Baha Fayez, the antiquities inspector accompanying the American archaeological mission in 2011, sent her a letter by (e-mail) stating that While she was in the United Kingdom to participate in a scientific conference on Egyptian antiquities in the Middle State and to display the archaeological discoveries that she shared with members of the American mission during her period of work in the Mit Rahina region in 2011, one of the conference attendees named (Marcic Mary) an assistant at the British Museum reported that he had seen the statue that was displayed His pictures, in the lecture, are in the possession of an antiquities dealer in Belgium, and it is a double statue of a seated man and woman made of limestone, of a senior in the Middle Kingdom and his wife, with some hieroglyphic inscriptions.
She added that this statue was discovered by the American mission in 2011 in the Mit Rahina area, and that after its discovery it was photographed and recorded in the Mission’s Antiquities Register and placed in a box with four other artifacts that were discovered by the mission, and that the box was closed and handed over on November 2, 2011 to the antiquities inspector who He was an escort to the expedition.
She explained that she had informed the Antiquities Police to verify the presence of the aforementioned statue inside the aforementioned fund, and so that the legally prescribed measures could be taken if it was found that this statue was smuggled abroad.
Counselor Dr. Muhammad Fikri, a member of the technical office of the president of the authority, initiated investigations into the report, under the supervision of Counselor Issam Al-Minshawi, the agent of the office. To it or not and that the committee found that the box was closed, and by examining its contents, it was found that it contains five antique pieces, including four artifacts bearing the same descriptions and dimensions and identical to what is established in the antiquities record of the American mission. The fifth piece is a double statue of limestone of a man and a woman Seated, it is not antique and is not identical to what is fixed in the records, and that after the inventory committee finished its work, the informant reported that the statue, subject of the previous report, was discovered by the American mission, not in the box, and that the statue in the box is not antique, but it is similar to the original statue and is imitated and does not match what is fixed in the records .
In its report submitted to the prosecution, the committee concluded that the defendants were responsible, denying the statement, for seizing the archaeological statue under investigation and smuggling it outside the country.
The question of each of the head of the criminal investigation unit at the Egyptian Museum, the head of the forensic archeology department, and the head of the criminal investigation unit in the Saqqara archeology area, whose statements were repeated, revealed that the investigations resulted in the validity of the report and the responsibility of the accused for seizing the archaeological statue under investigation and smuggling it out of the country. The antiquities of Egypt that I have specialized in were an ancient civilization that carried the glimpse of light and knowledge of the entire human heritage through ancient eras until it became the identity of Egypt and the features of its personality, and given the grave crime committed by those accused of weak souls of seizing an antique and smuggling it outside the country without a scruple of conscience Or a sense of patriotism, as the prosecution ordered that the defendants be referred to a speedy trial, hoping that their punishment would be a deterrent to anyone who begged him to do so.
