Egyptian minister of interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffer (Photo: Ahram Arabic website)
Prosecutors are still investigating the case of the gang of criminals who police say are connected to the case of the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni, Egypt's interior ministry said on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, Egyptian police said they had found the passport and other identity documents of the slain Italian inside an apartment linked to a gang who robbed foreigners.
The four gang members were killed in an exchange of fire with police hours before the announcement .
According to the ministry's Friday statement, the general prosecution are still investigating one of the suspect's sisters, who lived in the apartment where Regeni's belongings were found.
New evidence, including fake police IDs with photos of the four alleged gang members were found in her apartment in Shobra El-Kheima in northern Cairo, the statement read.
Egyptian police say that the gang kidnapped and robbed foreigners by impersonating police officers.
The statement revealed that the Egyptian investigation team was still coordinating with the Italian security team looking into Regeni's murder.
Ahmed Nagy, the chief prosecutor in Regeni's case, told the Associated Press that prosecutors were investigating the police's findings and would question two women who testified that Regeni's personal possessions belonged to one of the slain gang members.
Ahram Online was not able to reach Nagy by phone for comment.
Earlier on Friday, according to the Italian news agency ANSA reported, Italian investigators said there “is no definitive element confirming” that a gang Egyptian authorities said on Thursday they they busted were behind the death of Giulio Regeni.
A Source in Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's office told Reuters on Friday that Italy wanted the "unvarnished" truth about the murder of Regeni.
General Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim, the official spokesperson for the interior ministry, told Al-Watan newspaper that finding Regeni's belongings at the apartment of one of the suspect's sister did not mean that the members of the gang were involved in kidnapping and killing the Italian PhD student.
"Only the investigations, which are currently undergoing, will reveal that," he told Watan.
Abdel-Karim could not be reached for further comment.
Short link: