Abu Dhabi // The journey to Yas Island just got a lot shorter, with the opening yesterday of a new tunnel connecting the eastern end of Al Raha Beach to Yas. "This is going to make it so easy for everybody to go to the hotels on Yas," said Ousama Ghannoum, Aldar Properties' marketing and media director. Previously, the only entrance to Yas Island was the so-called "leisure route" around the Ferrari World theme park.
The tunnel now provides a direct route from the E10 motorway to the southern tip of the island, where the Yas circuit and the island's hotels are. "When you go under the bridge you will be in the hotel plaza area within two minutes," said Mr Ghannoum. The greatest benefit will be felt by residents of Raha. Although they live within sight of the hotels and the racetrack, their journey to the island's restaurants took about 20 minutes.
Imran Ellam, a sales and leasing consultant at Better Homes, believes the tunnel will boost the profile of Raha, which has had trouble competing with other freehold areas. "Similarly when they connected the Sheikh Khalifa freeway to the Al Reef development, a number of people who thought it was too far away quickly moved," he said. Mr Ghannoum agrees. "This tunnel is like the main artery to the heart," he said.
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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