Monday 09/December/2024 – 08:27 PM
The Central Administration of Port Said Customs, headed by Yasser Al-Shamaa, announced the thwarting of an attempt to smuggle antique manuscripts and paintings. This seizure comes based on joint intelligence information between the Import Administration of East Port Said Customs and the Port Investigations, that a container contains items of suspected antiquity, imported from the State of France.
The administration formed a committee of:
(Akram Abdel Azim – Director General of East Port Said Customs, Mohamed El-Sayed El-Sayed – Director of the Logistics Center in East Port Said, Mohamed Reda Saeed, Ahmed Mohamed Mahrous, traffic warden, Ahmed Younis, tariff warden, in the presence of the treasury company and officials of the archaeological unit in Port Said sea port.
The committee began its work to inspect the contents of a customs declaration imported from the State of France, on Saturday 12/7/2024, at the customs import yard east of Port Said, and it was found that it includes:
1- A large number of artistic paintings, wooden furniture, metal artifacts, books, carpets, etc.
2- Two pages of manuscript, each of which contains Qur’anic verses from Surat Ghafir on one side, and on the other side are Persian drawings made up of human figures in natural colors, written in Naskh script in black ink, with dividers in red.
3- A leaf from the manuscript of Hafez Shirazi’s Diwan, which includes writings of poetic poems in Persian script in black ink, and the other side bears a Persian depiction in natural colors of human figures and various decorative motifs.
4- A sheet of Persian manuscript, one side of which consists of Persian writings in Persian script in black ink, and the other side contains writings with a Persian depiction in the center, consisting of human figures in the middle of the written lines.
5- A sheet of Persian manuscript, one side of which consists of Persian writings in Persian script in black ink, and the other side consists of a Persian depiction of a romantic scene in natural colors.
6- Two limestone stone panels, the facade of each of which is decorated in the form of a semicircular arch at the top with relief carving, resting on two cylindrical columns, between which are decorations executed in relief and intaglio sculpture, consisting of geometric, floral, and bird shapes.
Accordingly, the committee decided, after a physical inspection, that series No. 2 to No. 6 would be confiscated for the benefit of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 114 of 1973 regarding the prohibition and prevention of the import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property through illegal means between countries. The pieces that were recommended for confiscation were preserved for the benefit of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The Ministry of Antiquities is in the possession of Sharq Customs officials until the procedures for handing it over to the Ministry of Antiquities are completed, and the container is sealed with insurance.
This seizure comes as part of the ongoing efforts to implement the law and protect Egyptian cultural heritage from smuggling, and the importance of cooperation between the concerned authorities to confront all forms of organized crime targeting cultural property.
