Date: 28 Mar 1995 16:22:16 U
From: "Richard Beal" <richard_beal@memphis-orinst.uchicago.edu>
Subject: smuggled relics 
Status: RO

                      smuggled relics 
Egypt says smuggled relics were fakes@
    CAIRO, March 27 (Reuter) - Egypt said on Monday hundreds of
artefacts, impounded on Sunday at Cairo airport by police who
thought they were priceless pharaonic relics, were fakes.
    A statement from Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities
(SCA) said the statues and reliefs seized by police were
coloured with modern dyes, and that hieroglyphic inscriptions on
them were riddled with mistakes.
    It said investigators, led by SCA secretary-general
Abdul-Halim Nureddine, had found the haul to be fake.
    Sources at Cairo airport said on Sunday police had foiled a
major smuggling attempt and arrested a woman who had arranged
for the goods to be shipped to the United States.
    The news came at a sensitive time for Egypt, which is
investigating an Anglo-Egyptian smuggling ring believed to have
smuggled huge numbers of antiquities out of the country for sale
in Britain.
 REUTER
Reut12:29 03-27

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Serv

Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 06:24:03 -0600
To: ANE@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu
From: nbhansen@midway.uchicago.edu (Nicole B. Hansen)
Subject: Egypt arrests antiquities official

                   Egypt arrests antiquities official

UPn  03/21/95 09:34 AM

   CAIRO, March 21 (UPI) -- Egypt has arrested a government antiquities
inspector suspected of being tied to an international smuggling ring,
security authorities and the state-run news media said Tuesday.
   Mahmoud Abu el-Wafaa, chief inspector of the Egyptian Antiquities 
Organization in the monument-rich area of Saqqara, in Giza province, was 
arrested by police in Cairo, the sources said.
   Abu el-Wafaa was held on suspicion that he is linked to smugglers who 
took and exported more than 200 antiquities from a storage facility in 
Saqqara, 20 miles (30 km) south of Cairo, during his duty there, the 
state-run al-Ahram newspaper said.
   Saqqara, the burial ground of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis
and site of the step pyramids that predate the Pyramids of Giza, contains 59
storerooms guarded by 120 men, the newspaper said.
   "Priceless treasures are protected by ignorant guards who are paid 100 
Egyptian pounds ($30) a month, so of course they are going to be easy to
bribe," said Zahi Hawwas, EAO inspector general for Giza and Saqqara.
   Officials and media in Egypt have called for tighter security and better 
trained and paid guards at such sites and storage rooms, plus tougher
penalties for robbers and smugglers.
   Last week, Britain's Scotland Yard arrested in London a police detective 
and two antiquities dealers suspected of being linked with the case, which
involves millions of dollars in allegedly stolen goods. The arrests followed a 
nine-month joint investigation with Egyptian authorities, codenamed
Operation Bullrush.
   Egyptian police officials traveled recently to London, then said the ring 
included Egyptian officials, businessmen, antiquities inspectors, a college 
professor and others.
   Egyptian and British police are negotiating details of the return of the ^M
allegedly stolen goods from Britain to Egypt.
  
  Copyright 1995 The United Press International