CAIRO: Public Prosecution investigations confirmed charges brought against a bus driver for shooting eight passengers dead and injuring four others last Tuesday, following a dispute over monument excavations under his home.
Mahmoud Sweilam, who was driving 22 workers from 15th of May City to the Arab Contractors’ electrical and mechanical projects workshops in Abo Al Nomros, 20 km south of Cairo, reportedly stopped the bus, took out an automatic rifle and fired randomly at the passengers, leaving eight dead and four wounded.
According to investigations, 13 bullet cases were in the bus. Ballistic examinations found that the bullets were fired from inside the bus, refuting allegations that the shots were fired from the outside. The investigators also identified blood stains on the floor and on the seats of the bus.
The forensic report said that bullets found in the bodies of the victims matched the ones found in the confiscated weapon that Sweilam said he used.
Investigations included over 27 witness accounts, technical reports from the Criminal Evidence Authority, the forensics and antiquities authorities as well as Sweilam’s detailed confession.
Witnesses said that Sweilam called Abdel Fattah Salem, one of the victims, and threatened him with an automatic rifle before shooting him dead. Investigations related that to a dispute between them over excavations for monuments under Sweilam’s house a year and a half ago.
The investigations also revealed that Sweilam had bought the rifle two years ago for LE 7,000, a sum of money he received as compensation for the death of his son in an accident.
He bought it from a low-ranking policeman he knew to protect his family from illegal excavators in his neighborhood.
A report by the Antiquities Authority said that a year and a half earlier, representatives from the Authority had visited Sweilam’s house in 15th of May City near Helwan. It confirmed that signs of digging were found there, as was the case with many buildings in the area where people are "obsessed" with allegedly hidden treasures buried under their homes.
The report, however, denied the existence of any antiquities under Sweilam’s house.
