Egyptian prosecutors ordered the detention of four people said to be relatives of the leader of an alleged gang which police say was found with belonging of murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni, judicial sources say.
The gang leader’s wife, brother, sister and brother-in-law were all held, accused of hiding a criminal and stolen goods.
Police say they found Regeni’s possessions at a house belonging to the sister of the said gang’s leader.
A judicial source told Reuters that local prosecutors dealing with the gang case requested that senior prosecutors handling Regeni’s death add the questioning of the four relatives to their case file.
On Thursday, Egypt’s interior ministry said the gang, whose four members were all killed in a police shootout, had Regeni’s bag and passport in their possession. The group specialised in impersonating police and kidnapping foreigners, it said.
Last week, the North African country’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi assured Italy that the killers of the student would be found and punished.
Human rights group have said torture marks on Regeni’s body indicated that he died at the hands of Egyptian security services, an allegation that has been strongly refuted by the government.
