Authorities Thwart Attempt to Sell Egyptian Antiques

The Egyptian security forces managed, Thursday, to thwart an attempt to sell a huge antique statue, weighs 700 tons, in Abu Sawyer, as it was extracted from Sharqiya and transported to Ismailia for sale.

Major General Yasser Nashat, assistant minister of interior, received a notification from Lt. Col. Ahmed Jamal, chief of investigations at Abu Sawyer Police Station, about a person who was trying to sell the statue.

Officers at Abu Sawyer Police Station were able to arrest the accused man who confessed his attempt to sell the Egyptian antique.

He accompanied the officers to the place of hiding it, and a report of the incident was issued and the Public Prosecution office was notified to take over the investigations.

Following the extensive investigations, it was revealed that the statue was excavated from an archaeological area in Sharqiya for years and transferred to Ismailia and buried in an agricultural area, as the accused man failed in selling it.

The officers revealed that the accused man was communicating with a person, urging him to speed up the process of sale, after trying to hide it for a long time.