Monday, May 12, 2003
Egyptian Returns From Iraq With $430,000
From: spliffslips
Military Care Packages War Blog Updates
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Egyptian Returns From Iraq With $430,000
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By Associated Press
May 12, 2003, 1:17 PM EDT
CAIRO, Egypt -- An Egyptian who returned home after working in Iraq for 15 years with $430,000 he allegedly found in a Baghdad stairwell after Saddam Hussein's fall has a tough choice -- surrender the loot or face charges.
Rida Hamed, 39, said he found the money April 14, five days after the Iraqi capital fell to U.S.-led troops, in a sack in a building not far from where he lived.
"When I opened the sack in my room and counted the money, I did not believe it," Hamed told The Associated Press by telephone Monday from his home in Gharbiya province, 65 miles north of Cairo.
Hamed, a truck driver working in Iraq since 1988, said he hid the money in the lining of his clothes and avoided several U.S. checkpoints inside Iraq, along with Jordanian police and custom officials, before reaching Egypt.
Egyptian police discovered the cash after he entered the Sinai Peninsula port of Nuweiba on May 3 and arrested him. Hamed was freed Saturday without bail.
Hamed said looters raided banks in the Iraqi capital in the days after Saddam's ouster and stole millions of dollars.
"Thieves were trying to carry as many sacks as possible and it seemed the one I found was left there by someone who went again to the bank to get more," Hamed said.
"There was no Iraqi government or police to hand the money over to, and it was illogical to give it to the Americans," he said. "Therefore I decided to bring it to Egypt."
Officials said Hamed may face charges if he does not surrender the money, which is now in the hands of Egyptian authorities. It was not clear if officials would keep the money or return it to Iraq if Hamed surrendered it.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press
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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-money,0,4846644.story
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
|
Military Care Packages War Blog Updates
--------------------
Egyptian Returns From Iraq With $430,000
--------------------
By Associated Press
May 12, 2003, 1:17 PM EDT
CAIRO, Egypt -- An Egyptian who returned home after working in Iraq for 15 years with $430,000 he allegedly found in a Baghdad stairwell after Saddam Hussein's fall has a tough choice -- surrender the loot or face charges.
Rida Hamed, 39, said he found the money April 14, five days after the Iraqi capital fell to U.S.-led troops, in a sack in a building not far from where he lived.
"When I opened the sack in my room and counted the money, I did not believe it," Hamed told The Associated Press by telephone Monday from his home in Gharbiya province, 65 miles north of Cairo.
Hamed, a truck driver working in Iraq since 1988, said he hid the money in the lining of his clothes and avoided several U.S. checkpoints inside Iraq, along with Jordanian police and custom officials, before reaching Egypt.
Egyptian police discovered the cash after he entered the Sinai Peninsula port of Nuweiba on May 3 and arrested him. Hamed was freed Saturday without bail.
Hamed said looters raided banks in the Iraqi capital in the days after Saddam's ouster and stole millions of dollars.
"Thieves were trying to carry as many sacks as possible and it seemed the one I found was left there by someone who went again to the bank to get more," Hamed said.
"There was no Iraqi government or police to hand the money over to, and it was illogical to give it to the Americans," he said. "Therefore I decided to bring it to Egypt."
Officials said Hamed may face charges if he does not surrender the money, which is now in the hands of Egyptian authorities. It was not clear if officials would keep the money or return it to Iraq if Hamed surrendered it.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press
--------------------
This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-money,0,4846644.story
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
