[CPProt.net] A stolen antiquities collection is unearthed at a downtown apartment after 34 years in hiding, reports Nevine El-Aref

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

A rich handover
A stolen antiquities collection is unearthed at a downtown apartment after
34 years in hiding, reports Nevine El-Aref 

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At No. 8 Al-Alfi Street downtown last week, the scene was more bustling than
usual. A large number of police officers, archaeologists and journalists
were on hand as a huge cache of artefacts -- hidden since 1971 -- finally
saw the light again. 

The collection includes a number of anthropoid sarcophagi, painted mummy
masks, Ancient Egyptian ushabti figurines (wooden statuettes), limestone
reliefs, necklaces, amulets, and scarabs, as well as a group of Graeco-Roman
statues, Islamic vessels, clay chandeliers and coloured textiles.

Brigadier Abdel-Hafez Abdel-Karim, head of the antiquities police, told
Al-Ahram Weekly that the story of the hidden collection began in 1971, when
a Frenchman named Gérard Razier was arrested at this same address, and
charged with illegal possession of antiquities. The Frenchman was sentenced
to six months in prison; an appeal led to the sentence eventually being
cancelled. 

The objects remained confiscated in the apartment until 1992, when
archaeologists from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) paid the place
a visit and were surprised to discover that the apartment was co-owned by
the Frenchman and an Egyptian by the name of Mohamed Ali Farag, who had used
it as a cinema production office prior to 1971. For an as yet unknown
reason, the antiquities officials did not end up doing anything about the
antiquities in the apartment at that time.

Last year, Farag was sentenced to five years in jail for his role in a major
Swiss-Egyptian antiquity smuggling ring headed by Tareq El-Seweissi, former
head of the National Democratic Party's Giza district office. As part of
recent SCA efforts to combat illegal smuggling of artefacts, the El-Seweissi
case re-ignited interest in the El-Alfi Street cache. 

Antiquities authorities are now saying that the 3052 objects will be
examined, documented, restored and put on display at the Egyptian Museum. A
police source, who requested anonymity, said that during the re-assessment
of the seized collection, archaeologists realised that three of the objects
were actually replicas, which may mean that the original artefacts were sold
after being replaced by fake ones. 

SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass has boasted of Egypt recovering thousands
of artefacts over the last three years that have been stolen and illegally
smuggled out of the country. One of the most recent such cases involved
Egypt recovering 56,000 of a total 113,000 objects impounded at Heathrow
Airport in April 2002. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni described that
collection as "an overwhelming number of antiquities recovered at once",
calling it a reflection of the mutual cooperation between Egypt and the UK.
While there is no official agreement between the two nations stipulating the
move, strong diplomatic ties and a commitment to return illegally smuggled
antiquities to their homeland were behind the effort. 

According to investigations by Scotland Yard, the shipment belonged to
Mamdouh Michael, an Egyptian residing in Zurich, who claimed that he had
inherited the artefacts from his father in 1956. Because Michael did not
provide documents that proved his ownership, a British Museum expert was
brought in to check the artefacts' authenticity. In June 2002, an Egyptian
antiquities committee also examined them, and concluded that the objects
were smuggled out of Cairo in 1997.

Hawass said a joint SCA/Egyptian State Security effort subsequently found
that the artefacts had been officially registered in SCA documents. State
Security's Hisham Abdel-Meguid said the objects would now be used as
evidence in a major antiquities smuggling case that is currently in court.

Hawass told reporters that negotiations between Egypt and other foreign
bodies are currently underway to return a head of Amenhotep III from the UK,
as well as five reliefs from Greece, and nine stelea from the US.

In total, the SCA expects to recover some 57,000 pieces from the UK, US,
Germany and the Netherlands.



http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/731/eg7.htm