Cairo -
An Egyptian grocer found himself behind bars on Tuesday after police caught him with suspected antiquities concealed in food packaging, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
Police searched the car of the 33-year old grocer as he was waiting for customers on a road south of Giza in the early hours of the morning, the report said.
Pictures published with the report showed a number of figurines including a hippopotamus and a baboon's head, as well as coins and what appeared to be a wooden coffin.
The 23 confiscated artefacts would be turned over to the Ministry of Antiquities for examination, the report added.
Unauthorised excavations are common in Egypt, as amateur diggers hope to turn up Pharaonic artefacts for sale on the black market. - Sapa-dpa