Egypt has stepped up efforts to stop the smuggling of its antiquities, In recent years.
A former member of the Egyptian parliament, Alaa Hassanein has been sentenced to prison for smuggling antiques out of the country.
According to Egypt’s State News Agency, Hassanein and four others were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, while Hassan Rateb, a prominent businessman, and 17 others will serve five years in prison.
The agency reported that a Cairo Criminal Court also fined the suspects 1 million Egyptian pounds, ($54,000).
In recent years, the North African country has stepped up efforts to stop the smuggling of its antiquities.
The trafficking of the country’s antiques started after the uprising that toppled longtime autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Some of the suspects arrested for smuggling the artefacts have been prominent figures in the country.
According to Africa News, an actor and brother of the country’s former minister of finance Raouf Boutros-Ghali were sentenced to 30 years for the same offence in 2022.
The convicts were reported to have organized and funded secret excavations to steal the artefacts.
Up to 1,000 artefacts and around 22,000 ancient coins are said to have been retrieved by the country’s Antiquities Ministry since 2016.
