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