Egypt slaps ex-Italian diplomat with 15 years jail-term for smuggling artifacts

Former honorary consul for Italy, Ladislav Otakar Skakal, has bagged a 15-year-sentence in absentia from a Cairo Criminal Court on Tuesday having been charged with the crime of smuggling of Egyptian antiquities to Italy.

The accused, Skakal, reportedly carried out the crime with the brother of former Finance Minister, Youssef Boutros Ghal, who assisted him in smuggling nearly 22,000 artifacts from Alexandria to Italy in 2017.

Egypt’s public prosecutor previously released a statement in September 2019 and thereafter notified the Interpol that the former Italian official should be added to their red notice.

Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadek officially announced the arrival of the smuggled antiquities at Cairo Airport in July 2019.

The recovery was made possible as the African country got the wind of intel about some Egyptian antiquities seized in the Italian city of Salerno in 2018.

After confirming that the antiquities were Egyptian originals, investigations revealed that 195 small pieces were found alongside 21,660 ancient metal coins.

Along with a team from the Egyptian prosecution, a group of experts was directed to Italy to legally obtain the antiquities from Salerno and return them to Egypt, where the pieces are to be exhibited in the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum.