What would Tutankhamun say? Remember when mummies starting floating up in sewage? This story is even better. Security officials at the Cairo International Airport foiled a plot to smuggle ancient mummified limbs out of the country in a couple of loudspeakers. On a plane to Belgium, the X-ray technicians noticed something fishy and looked deep inside the speakers. Instead of wires and a woofer, they found body parts.
According to the country’s security officials the smugglers were attempting to smuggle out antiquities belonging to two different mummies: in total two sets of feet and lower legs; two sets of hands, two sets of forearms, an upper arm and an upper torso. The smuggler in the heist was not identified.
The ancient mummified remains will be brought to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo where they will be inspected and preserved by a team of archaeologists. Grave robbing and archeology looting has only intensified since the 2011 revolution. When I travelled to Syria 20 years ago I was offered a number of archeological artifacts by a young man wanting to be my friend.
ISIS has systematically destroyed an unspeakable number of archeology and historical sites in the Middle East. Read our archeology news here.
Egypt alone has lost what it estimates to be $3 billion worth of illegal artifacts since the revolution time in 2011. Looting and stealing artifacts damages the local culture today and possibly irrevocably. Knowing our planet’s peoples’ history, helps us persevere in our future.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
