The press doesn't want to disturb the chirping about the "Arab Spring". m/r
The only people thriving in post-revolution Egypt — tomb raiders » The Spectator
-from last November-
The Sphinx, the pyramids and churches are being ransacked by looters and Islamists
Hook nose, blue chin, Arab headdress: the tomb robber resembled a villain from a Tintin comic. His friend was packing a big pistol and behind them it was sunset over the pyramids at Dahshur, south of Cairo.
Looting’s been rife in Egypt since antiquity — but there has been an alarming acceleration since the 2011 revolution, and Hook Nose and Big Pistol are in up to their respective necks. I met them as they were about to set off for a night’s work: excavating holes in tombs right up to the foot of the famous Black Pyramid outside Cairo, built around 2,000 bc by a Pharaoh called Amenemhat III. Hook Nose was cock-a-hoop about his profession. ‘The police let me do whatever I want,’ he said. ‘They take their share, so I’m not worried about being arrested… All eat from the same hand. It’s a circle.’
Found anything good recently? ‘Yes! Three wooden sarcophagi with gilded linen wrappings. The mummies had necklaces and beads on their chests and a collection of scarabs and amulets.’ Hook Nose was delighted.
It’s not just Cairo — this is going on all over Egypt. Under the cover of political turmoil, a new wave of tomb raiders are using high-tech equipment to detect tombs and other sites beneath the sands, which they then excavate using heavy machinery. They sell the finds to private collectors abroad, in London or Dubai.
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