NEW YORK CITY — A man who worked with tomb raiders was sentenced to prison for smuggling hundreds of ancient relics looted from crypts in Egypt, including sculptures from 1900 BCE and the carving of a king taken from a royal temple, federal prosecutors said.
Ashraf Omar Eldarir, 52, got six months in federal prison after pleading guilty to four counts of smuggling. A naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Egypt, Eldarir’s legal saga began when he was caught at JFK Airport in February 2020 with nearly 600 ancient artifacts wrapped in bubble wrap in his three suitcases.
The artifacts were so fresh out of the ground that prosecutors said that they still smelled of soil. Eldarir worked directly with tomb raiders in Egypt to get the artifacts, according to court papers.
Robbers sent him videos of the objects from the grave sites "as if it were K-Mart and here’s your pick to choose from," William Campos, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in court.
Judge Rachel P. Kovner did not levy a fine because of Eldarir’s financial circumstances. The Egyptian government seized his assets and froze his bank accounts. But the Eastern District acknowledged the highly orchestrated nature of Eldarir’s scheme.
