(ANSA) - CAIRO, FEBRUARY 17 - A gang of forgers has been discovered who, in order to sell alleged Egyptian artifacts to unscrupulous antique dealers, had set up a fake Egyptian tomb in BeniSuef, a city on the Nile about 150 km south of Cairo.
The Egypt Independent website reports it.
The forgers, currently on the run, had recreated "an ancient necropolis to sell its contents", presenting it "as original artifacts, to antiquities traffickers", reports the site.
The "underground cemetery" had been set up in the al-Hiba area in al-Fashn, and contained "false painted and engraved artifacts, a plaster coffin, hand-made statues and a quantity of gold-plated plaster ingots to be used to defraud traders of antiquity".
A special committee, formed under the leadership of the director of antiquities of Beni Suef, Omar Zaki, to investigate the fake tomb, concluded that "all the artifacts found inside (...) were made of plaster" in imitation of originals or directly "purchased in Khan al-Khalili", the well-known tourist market in Cairo.
The paintings on the walls had been done by copying subjects from books.
The exhibits have been seized and the counterfeiters are being sought by the police.
(HANDLE).
