Peruvian police find a pre-Hispanic mummy in the bag of a former delivery man

PUNO (PERU) – Police in Peru have confiscated a mummified human, aged between 600 and 800, from a former grocer who claimed to have had it in his home for three decades.

The mummy was in the isothermal bag that the man once used to deliver food to people’s homes.

The man, 26-year-old Julio Cesar Bermejo, will remain in custody while investigators investigate the case, a government official told AFP on Tuesday.

Bermejo told local media the mummy, which he dubbed “Juanita,” was “like my spiritual friend.”

“At home she is in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her,” he said in a video that went viral on social media.

Bermejo said his father brought the mummy home almost 30 years ago.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the pre-Hispanic relic was a “mummified adult male individual believed to be from the eastern area of ​​Puno,” a region in the Peruvian Andes about 1,300 kilometers (more than 800 miles) southeast of Lima.

“It’s not a Juanita, it’s a Juan,” confirmed a ministry specialist, adding that the mummy was that of a man at least 45 years old.

The body was wrapped in bandages in a fetal position.

Police found the remains in Bermejo’s bag on Saturday while he was patrolling a park in the city of Puno where he was meeting with friends.

He denied he was trying to sell the mummy, saying he carries it around because “my friends wanted to see it.”

The Culture Ministry said it took possession of the mummified remains “with the aim of protecting and preserving this heritage.”

Peru is rich in archaeological sites and objects. The most visited tourist destination is the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, built near Cusco in the 15th century.