Egyptian Antiquities Inspector Convicted Over Involvement in Major Artefact Smuggling

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In what is considered one of the most significant antiquities smuggling cases to affect Egypt’s cultural heritage sector, a Cairo criminal court has sentenced an antiquities inspector to life imprisonment (25 years) in a prominent case tied to the theft and smuggling of 370 ancient artefacts from a major museum ('Egypt court hands life sentence to antiquities inspector over major artifact smuggling', Egypt Today, 18 Jan 2026).

The matter goes back to 2015. Three defendants were accused of conspiring with an unnamed accomplice to illegally move the stolen pieces out of the country. The 370 ancient artefacts involved had been stolen from the storerooms of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, located in Old Cairo (Fustat), Egypt. Court records indicate that the defendants, which included two antiquities inspectors, took advantage of lax security and inadequate storage controls within the museum’s storage facilities to steal the items. Investigators found that two of the suspects created fake replicas of the original artefacts and left these counterfeits in the storage rooms to hide the thefts. Meanwhile, the genuine artefacts were smuggled abroad in coordination with an unidentified individual. Prosecutors stated that the defendants were fully aware that the objects they stole were irreplaceable pieces of national heritage and were protected under Egyptian law.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) - commonly referred to in local reporting as Muzium al-Hadara / Muzium al-Hadhara is relatively new compared with some of Egypt’s long-standing museums. The construction for the current museum began around 2000 and it was officially inaugurated on April 3, 2021, making it one of the newest major cultural institutions in the country.