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Mummy in cooler bag: This is what police officers saw in Puno, Peru, when they met Julio César Bermejo and his friends
Photo:
- / AFP
Police in Peru have confiscated a mummified human several hundred years old from a former food supplier.
According to the authorities, the mummy is said to be between 600 and 800 years old and was found in a cooler bag that the man had used to deliver groceries.
Julio César Bermejo, 26, will remain in custody while investigators investigate the case, a government official told AFP on Tuesday.
Bermejo told local media he had christened the mummy "Juanita."
She is "like my spiritual friend."
In a video that was widely shared online, he says: »At home she is in my room, she sleeps with me.
I'll take care of them.« His father brought them home 30 years ago and has kept them with him ever since.
He did not explain how his father came into possession of the mummy.
»Not a Juanita, but a Juan«
According to the Ministry of Culture, the pre-Hispanic remains belong to a "mummified adult male believed to have come from the eastern area of Puno."
This is a region in the Peruvian Andes about 1300 kilometers southeast of Lima.
The person wrapped in bandages was "not a Juanita, but a Juan" aged at least 45, a ministry specialist said.
Police found the remains of the mummy in Bermejo's bag on Saturday while patrolling a park in the city of Puno where the suspect was staying with friends.
Bermejo denied wanting to sell the mummy.
He carried them around with him because "my friends wanted to see them."
The Culture Ministry said it had confiscated the mummified remains "to protect and preserve this heritage."
Peru is rich in archaeological sites and objects.
The country's most visited tourist destination is the famous 15th-century Inca ruined city of Machu Picchu near Cusco.
aar/AFP
