Egypt Demands Italy to Hand Over Diplomat for Smuggling Artifacts

Yesterday, Interpol requested the extradition of the Italian diplomat Adslav Uttker for smuggling nearly 22,000 artifacts to Rome.

Egyptian Interpol officially demanded the Italian government to hand over the Italian suspects, members of the former Rome embassy diplomatic mission in Cairo after they were convicted of smuggling Egyptian artifacts.

Interpol demanded the extradition of the diplomat, Ladislav Uttker, who was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of one million pounds for smuggling about 22,000 artifacts to Italy from 2016 to 2018 through the containers of the diplomatic mission of the State of Italy. He was assisted by Massimiliano Sponzelli, the Economic and Commercial Diplomatic Attaché at the Italian Embassy.

The Egyptian Public Prosecution ordered the referral of the former consul to Italy and Boutros Ghali, brother of former Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros, and others, to the criminal court, with the speedy arrest and bringing of the Italian consul, and his inclusion on the Interpol red notice, and arrival watch lists for their accusations of smuggling Egyptian antiquities to Europe.

The case dates back to May 2018, when Italian media revealed that antiquities found in diplomatic containers in the port of Salerno, Italy, coming from Egypt, and Egyptian officials are suspected of smuggling them.

Italy also stated that the artifacts consist of a group of pottery vessels from different periods, parts of coffins, coins, and a few pieces belonging to the Islamic civilization.

On its part, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed to the Italian side that it contacted the Customs Department at Alexandria Port which indicated that the antiquities and the shipment were not of an Egyptian diplomat but rather related to an Italian citizen, who later turned out to be the honorary consul of Italy in Cairo.

The Public Prosecutor ordered that all the defendants, namely Medhat Michel Gerges Salib, his wife Sahar Zaki Ragheb, and Boutros Raouf Ghali, brother of the former minister, to be prevented from disposing of their money, and he also issued a decision to include Uttker on the arrival watch lists.

Cairo recovered the smuggled pieces and consisted of 21 thousand coins, in addition to 195 artifacts, including 151 small-sized vines, 11 pottery vessels, 5 mummy masks, a wooden coffin, two small wooden compounds, 2 canopy heads and 3 colored ceramic tiles belonging to the Islamic era.