"The strangest cases of fraud" .. the Egyptian prosecution reveals the truth about the "fake" Pharaonic cemetery

The Egyptian Public Prosecution revealed the truth about the "fake archaeological cemetery" in Beni Suef Governorate, southern Egypt, which caused an uproar in the local media and on social media platforms.

While you were having fun with a group of hardworking young men from Beni Suef Governorate, they sat for a whole year, built an underground pharaonic cemetery with its catacombs and corridors, painted the walls and inscribed pharaonic drawings on them, and bought a group of gypsum statues and grilled Chinese statues and accessories, seized them and sold all this to a group of antiquities dealers for millions and fled 😂 pic.twitter.com com/6FlZ2mgE3K

- Amr Fahmy (@ AmrFahm51034920) February 16, 2023

And the Public Prosecution said, in a statement yesterday, Friday, that it had ordered the arrest and bringing in of a group of defendants who had prepared a "fake cemetery" with the aim of defrauding those wishing to buy artifacts and seizing their money, and bloggers described that cemetery as "the strangest case of fraud."

The prosecution stated that the cemetery is located at the top of a hill in a desert area in the village of "Al-Hiba" in Al-Fashn Center, noting that it was discovered when security personnel inspected the security situation in the area, as those in charge of it fled in their car, which raised suspicions about them.

According to the report of a committee formed by the “Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities”, “the hole, which is about two meters deep and covered with an iron door with locks, leads to a basement that includes 3 rooms containing suspected Pharaonic statues, and it has been proven that all the drawings engraved on the walls of the rooms and statues are imitated (newly made). ) and non-archaeological".

Local newspapers circulated pictures and a video clip showing the inspection of the cemetery by a committee of antiquities experts, including the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mustafa Waziri, who confirmed that it is a hole that begins with a corridor that extends about 10 meters under the mountain, and "it looks like a real cemetery."

Waziri added, in a televised statement, that the cemetery includes "coffins made of fiber and plastic statues, with colored plywood walls," suggesting that what he described as "the cemetery's treasures" were about to be sold for millions of dollars for the purpose of getting rich quickly.

The chief archaeologist at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Magdi Shaker, said that the drawings are "very good", but he revealed wrong writings in them, such as the meeting of King Tutankhamun with Ramesses III, although the difference between the two families is about 500 years.

Shaker added, in a televised statement yesterday, Friday, "If they used their intelligence and money in something suitable for investment, it would be much better for them," and sent a message to their dealers of antiquities, saying, "The law does not protect the idiots."

In June 2018, the official newspaper published Law No. 91 of 2018 amending some provisions of the Antiquities Protection Law.

According to Article 43 of the law, “anyone who forges an antiquity with intent to defraud” shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of no less than 3 years and no more than 7 years, and a fine of no less than 100,000 pounds and no more than one million pounds.