A fake Egyptian tomb. Set up by a gang of counterfeiters to sell “Egyptian artifacts” to unscrupulous antique dealers. It was discovered in Beni Suef, a city on the Nile about 150 km south of Cairo. The Egypt Independent website tells it. The forgers, currently on the run, had recreated “an ancient necropolis to sell its contents”, presenting it “as original artifacts, to antiquities traffickers”.
The “underground cemetery” had been set up in the al-Hiba area in the al-Fashn locality, and contained “false painted and engraved artifacts, a plaster coffin, hand-made statues and a quantity of gold-plated plaster ingots to be used to defraud antiquities dealers”.
A special committee, formed under the leadership of the director of antiquities of Beni Suef, Omar Zaki, to investigate the fake tomb, concluded that “all the artifacts found inside (…) were made of plaster” in imitation of originals or directly “buy at Khan al-Khalili”, the well-known tourist market in Cairo. The paintings on the walls were made by copying subjects from books. The exhibits have been seized and the counterfeiters are wanted by the police.