Three of the coins that were found, dating back to the era of the late Saudi King Abdulaziz Al Saud.

:: Cairo’s airport authorities caught an Egyptian passenger attempting to smuggle a collection of antiques to Saudi Arabia.

The passenger was intending to hold an exhibition in Saudi Arabia to sell the items that date back to Egypt’s Khedival era, Ahram Online reported.

Officials said the confiscated items consist of coins, paper currency, contracts, bonds and other documents.

Three of the coins that were found, dating back to the era of the late Saudi King Abdulaziz Al Saud, said Hamdi Hammam, director-general of the Antiquities Units at Cairo International Airport.

Listing the items in details, Hammam told Ahram Online the coins included 25 Ottoman coins, 50 from the Sultan Hussein Kamel era (1914 – 1917), 74 from the reign of King Fouad (1922 – 1936), 247 from the King Farouk era (1936 – 1952), as well as three Saudi Arabian coins from the reign of King Abdulaziz Al Saud (1932 – 1953) and two pre-1948 Palestinian coins.

“Among the coins from the era of King Farouk was a very rare gold coin,” Hammam said, adding that the collection also included 24 bonds, documents and slave contracts.