Regeni passport 'found' says Egypt

(ANSA) - Cairo, March 25 - The Egyptian interior ministry said in a statement Friday that the passport of tortured and murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni was found in the home of the sister of a gang member, who was killed by security forces along with fellow suspects in a shootout with police on Thursday.
    The Cambridge doctoral researcher's severely burned and mutilated body was found in a ditch on the road to Alexandria on February 3, nine days after he disappeared on January 25, the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak. The alleged criminal gang would dress up as cops to kidnap foreigners, the ministry said.
    Police searched the home of the sister of the suspected ringleader, named as Rasha Saad Abdel Fatah, 34, because "investigations uncovered evidence he went to see her from time to time", the ministry said.
    She lives in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, it said.
    "Security forces have finished their investigation and apprised the Italian side of the results," the ministry said.
    "We thank the Italian side for its full cooperation...
    (which) contributed to this result," Egyptian news agency MENA cited the ministry as saying on Thursday.
    Also on Thursday, Adjunct Interior Minister Abu Bakr Abdelkarim said "We cannot say whether or not (the gang) is responsible for Regeni's death - the case is still under investigation".
    On Friday, Senate foreign committee chair Pier Ferdinando Casini said the Egyptian statement left him "very perplexed".
    "We are waiting to get more detailed information from Egyptian authorities," Casini said.