An Iraqi-British man who walked thousands of kilometres to participate in this year’s Hajj has met a leading Saudi Arabia politician and told him of his epic trek.
Adam Mohammed, who walked more than 6,500 kilometres from his home in Britain and is currently performing Hajj with his family, met Dr Majid Al Qasabi, the Acting Minister of Information, on Sunday.
The encounter took place at the ministry’s headquarters in Mina, where Mr Mohammed told the minister of the various stages of his journey, which lasted 10 months and 25 days and took in 11 countries.
Mr Mohammed, who is British with Iraqi roots, started his walk in Wolverhampton, central England and passed through the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan before reaching the holy city of Makkah in the kingdom.
He thanked Dr Al Qasabi and the Saudi government for providing him with his Hajj permit and for his stay so far in the country.
Mr Mohammed said he was impressed by the reaction he had received after covering such a distance on foot, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“I was so happy to finish my trip and I am blown away by how warmly Saudis and people from other countries treated me,” he said.
“Hajj has always been my biggest dream and I can’t wait to make it come true.”
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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