Abdel Rahman Ahmed-Cairo
"This land is full of good," Ismail did not feel happiness after hearing this phrase from the "Sheikh", or in fact the antichrist he came to tell him whether the land inherited by his family in a village in the province of Assiut (southern Egypt), Containing treasure of ancient Egyptian traces or not.
But the happiness of the 30-year-old dreamer of wealth almost faded after Sheikh Sheikh remarks, "but it will take more blood," he knows very well what these words mean, and crumbled to his head dozens of stories he heard and lived for treasure hunters, their lives ended on the threshold or lost themselves for it.
He explains, "Ismail. AS" in his interview with the island Net, he resorted to this "Sheikh" because he had already helped his relatives from his village and neighboring villages, in access to the treasures of the effects of the Pharaohs, transferred to the world of wealth.
But the sheikh's warning of blood, which, according to Ishmael's explanation, means either death during digging or disagreements over the treasure or a request for a sacrifice to the commissions, and the slaughter of a young child, for example, often prompted Ismael's parents to categorically refuse that he and his four brothers complete this adventure. While trying hard to convince them to fight.
Ismail's unfinished story is one of hundreds and possibly thousands of tales about the pursuit of wealth, through secret searches and excavations of antiquities, especially in Upper Egypt, where poverty and living conditions are increasing.
Illusions and blood
Treasure hunters seek the help of so-called elders, often witches and charlatans, who claim to be able to identify the areas in which there are monuments and treasures, and convince their victims that they are able to harness the elves to serve them and help them access the treasure and get rid of "monitoring" Once the victim is convinced by the words of the Antichrist, the latter begins to blackmail him financially.
The demands of the charlatans who claim to be elders are endless, describing them as the demands of the elves that protect the treasure or who will expel the monitoring of the place, and between red mercury and Moroccan incense and other requests drain the victim's money as he dreams of the treasure that will compensate him for all he spent.
She tells Hamdia. When her family brought a sheikh to explore their home in a village in the village of Dayrout, the man took mumbling words and made some strange movements. Then the owners of the house preached the precious treasure that lies beneath their house, which is several gold bullion, and that he is able to take them out for them.
He welcomed the people of the house and began to urge the Sheikh to take out the treasure and promised him to carry out anything he requests, to start the man in further mumbling and throwing talismans, to enchant their eyes and appear in front of them gold bullion to cheer the house cheering and screaming, and suddenly disappear bullion and appear on the face of the man artificial panic and tell them that they disturbed monitoring with their loudness, He took their treasure back to the ground.
Hamdia adds to Al Jazeera Net that, after the magician realized that his victims had fallen in his partnership, he began asking them exorbitant requests costing tens of thousands of pounds, and after receiving ten thousand pounds down payment, disappeared and evaporated with him the dream of wealth that haunted the family.
Some witches and charlatans argue that decoupling requires sex at the place of digging, or shedding human blood to make it a sacrifice for the jinn, and greedlessly absent minds and push them into the abyss of crime.
One of these incidents occurred in a village adjacent to his village near the western mountain in Assiut, where one of the children was kidnapped and disappeared for days before the villagers found him slaughtered near the outskirts of the village near the western mountain. It has traces of digging and exploration.
The treasures of the promised
In spite of the disastrous end of most of the excavations of the monuments that drain the effort and money, which may lead to death, the conversations and nails of the villagers and towns alike are hardly devoid of the tales of those who found the treasures under their homes or lands, changed their condition and bid farewell to poverty, each Yemeni. Himself to be the next on the list of promised treasure or "Lakiya" as some call it.
Despite their relentless pursuit of finding the treasure, most people in Upper Egypt believe that these wealth is "for the promised, not for the arithmetic," ie those who are chosen by fate, not those who seek it.
Mahfouz S. recounts how his uncle found a Pharaonic cemetery by accident while digging a well in an agricultural land he owned in one of the villages of the center of "Abu Tig" in Assiut, pointing out that his relative refused to involve the rest of the family in the treasure found, and hidden it carefully in an unknown location , Even managed to communicate with the buyer.
Mahfouz knows little about the things his uncle found and described them as "makhachit" (referring to the statues) and who is Jupiter, but he told Al Jazeera Net that the man who worked as a baker besides caring for his small agricultural land, turned within a few months to A wealthy villager bought large tracts of land and rented cars.
Supported bands
Finding archaeological treasures does not mean the beginning of the journey of wealth. A more exciting and important journey is to find those who buy the treasure. They are often organized gangs that include some senior officials or have their patronage, according to previous statements by Dr. Mohamed El Kahlawy, Secretary General of the Arab Archaeological Society, which sells antiquities. Self-employed and graduated from the country.
In a small village near the western mountain in Assiut, her children are trading the story of "Abdel Tawab" (a pseudonym), who found a large treasure containing dozens of artifacts, and after he reached the buyer "Musnad" (a reference to his relations with influential figures) disagreed on the sale price, and the merchant came out Angry and swear to get these things in any way.
It was not more than half an hour before the village was filled with policemen who took Abdel Tawab and treasure him in a large box to the security directorate.While the man was held for three days, his treasure went out less than an hour after his arrival and was transported in a large black car, according to relatives. The man traded.
The man found himself at large after being told that the pieces seized with him were not original, and when he denounced it was a good choice between asserting its authenticity and staying in custody, or leaving and recognizing the loss of what he found, and the safety effect came out after his dreams were lost.
Years ago in the city of Dermawas in the governorate of Minya, south of Cairo, it was rumored among the people that Sheikh Alaa, a parliamentarian from their constituency and a member of the dissolved National Party, trades in antiquities. .
Recently, pioneers of social networking sites circulated a video of the speaker of parliament Ali Abdel-Al rallies against one of the deputies by saying "Stay in the effects better."
Heavy sanctions
The antiquities trade is one of the most profitable types of trade, and some unofficial reports and statistics estimate the size of the antiquities trade market in Egypt at about $ 20 billion annually, while a previous study issued by the National Center for Social and Criminal Research (Hukoomi), there are approximately three Thousands of archaeological and archaeological cases are recorded every year.
Many dreamers are indifferent to laws that prevent secret excavations or sale of antiquities, punish them with imprisonment and heavy fines, and do not shed light on news of dozens of seized cases.
Unlicensed archaeological excavations are punishable by three to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of between half a million and one million pounds.
While the penalty for smuggling antiquities abroad reaches life imprisonment, and a fine of not less than one million pounds, and not more than ten million pounds, according to the Protection of Antiquities Law 117 of 1983, as amended by Law No. 91 of 2018.