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The night I left Luxor there was quite a brutal robbery in the Kom el-Hettan storerooms of the team excavating the Temple of Amenhotep III. Two freshly excavated sculptures were stolen, suggesting the thieves had received a tip-off that they were there. A few days later the sculptures were back in the storeroom, and the thieves caught. The newspapers said that: "The statues were found hidden inside the home of Ahmed El Zot, the head of an armed gang, who is infamous for his dishonesty. Three other members of the gang are also in custody". The men shortly afterwards got fifteen years for the offence. I was struck by that phrase that a guy who was known (?) to be the head of an organized criminal gang involved in antiquity offences "is infamous for his dishonesty". In what? Cheating on his wife? Not telling the shopkeeper he has given too much change? Did this previous infamy for "dishonesty" in some way involve antiquities and who had "known" about it? Is there more to this story than meets the eye? Or should we not listen to gossip?
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2 comments:
Well, the phenomenon of the local dirtbag who is a known criminal but is never "caught with the goods" is one known around the world and throughout history. Case in point, the story of Paneb. Heck this guy was probably a descendant. ;)
But to be serious, I am glad to hear that they were caught quickly, but man that was a quick trial. And it is indeed possible that they had a tip-off and perhaps the quick punishment helped make sure any facts relating to that were swept under the rug.
Well, depending on which one we are talking about, Paneb was framed wasn't he?
Would it not be nice if we could get all guilty culture-thieves behind bars so quickly?
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