Postman Held Over Ramses Sale

A French postman who tried to sell online what he claimed were strands of hair from the mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II was being held by police yesterday.

Jean-Michel Diebolt, 50, was arrested at his home in Grenoble after he placed an advertisement on a website offering strands of hair and tiny fragments of the funeral cloth from the 3,200 year-old mummy for €2,000 (£1,300).

He claimed to have obtained the pieces from his late father, a researcher who had been part of a French team which analysed the mummy in the 1970s.

Police, who raided Mr Diebolt's home on Tuesday, seized 12 plastic sachets and boxes with hair and cloth samples.

The case threatened to trigger a diplomatic incident. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's supreme council for antiquities, told Agence France Presse yesterday that France must be totally transparent in its handling of the case. "If these are authentic pieces it would be a scandal and risks damaging relations between Egypt and France," he said.

The mummy of Ramses II, who ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC, is conserved at the Grand Museum of Cairo. In 1976 the remains left were sent to France for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus.

Mr Diebolt's wife Sonia said in an interview the pieces were genuine but she did not know if her father-in-law had the right to possess them. But French archaeologists said yesterday it was forbidden to keep fragments under examination.