A delivery man is being investigated by Peruvian authorities after he was found with a pre-Hispanic mummy in his delivery bag.
The mummy, believed to be between 600 and 800 years old, was discovered when police searched the possessions of the 26-year-old man after he was seen drinking in a deserted park with two friends.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the man, identified as Julio Bermejo, had named the mummified remains ‘Juanita’, and described the mummy as ‘like my spiritual girlfriend’.
‘At home, she’s in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her,’ Bermejo said in a video, adding that ‘Juanita’ was owned by his father. He did not explain how the mummy came into his father’s possession.
According to the BBC, experts who have examined the remains have determined they are, in fact, those of an adult male standing 1.51m tall (4ft 11in) and estimated to have been older than 45 at the time of his death.
Pictures show the mummy wrapped in bandages and in the foetal position typical of the pre-Hispanic burials in the area.
The mummy is currently being held by the Ministry of Culture which has designated it as a national cultural asset.
Bermejo and the two men who were with him when police discovered the ancient remains have been detained and are being investigated for crimes against Peru’s cultural heritage.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mummified_male_body,_South_American,_800-1400._Wellcome_L0057117.jpg