When Zambian authorities searched a personal jet that arrived from Egypt final week, they discovered a mysterious trove that included tens of millions of {dollars} in money, lots of of bars of what seemed to be gold, and weapons.

They arrested 12 folks, six of them Egyptian residents, and the haul stirred wild hypothesis in each nations. Zambian officers launched an inquiry into what they known as a gold rip-off, eliciting a jittery response from Egyptian authorities.

The Zambian officers mentioned the gold was, in actual fact, pretend — product of copper and zinc, most likely with a purpose to fleece international patrons.

“This has been a clear case of scamming, gold scamming,” Nason Banda, director common of the nation’s Drug Enforcement Commission, instructed a news convention days after the Aug. 14 raid. He mentioned investigators on the airport had been tipped off beforehand in regards to the aircraft’s suspicious cargo.

Egyptian media shops reported that a number of members of Egypt’s army and safety providers seemed to be amongst these arrested. Egyptian authorities appeared wanting to play down the aircraft’s seizure: Two journalists masking the episode have been detained in Cairo with out cost on Saturday, then launched on Sunday.

They have been the most recent of not less than 200 journalists to be arrested underneath the decade-long rule of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose authorities and safety providers personal or management a lot of the Egyptian press. Mr. el-Sisi’s authorities, which has tried to shine the nation’s human rights file lately with overtures toward its political opposition and releases of several high-profile political prisoners, has not commented on the occasions of the final week.

Zambia and Egypt have shut ties, although Zambia is commonly celebrated for its democratic governance and Egypt is often criticized as repressive. In June, Mr. el-Sisi visited Zambia to strengthen regional commerce between northern and southern Africa.

The seized jet, a Bombardier Global Express that may seat as much as 16 passengers, was carrying practically $5.7 million in U.S. forex, 602 bars of the pretend gold, 5 pistols and 126 rounds of ammunition. Zambian officers additionally seized a second, smaller passenger plane owned by a Zambian operator, which was believed to be linked to the primary aircraft, Mr. Banda mentioned.

In Zambia, the ballooning scandal has turn into a take a look at of the nation’s resolve to crack down on corruption and the impunity of the political elite. The authorities led news excursions of the seized planes and provided public assurances that the money wouldn’t go lacking, in a present of the nation’s push underneath President Hakainde Hichilema to root out corruption.

The six Egyptian residents arrested didn’t seem in court docket in Lusaka alongside the Zambian detainees final week, with their attorneys saying they have been unwell, based on native news media experiences. Zambian officers have declined to determine the Egyptian detainees. A Dutch nationwide and a Spanish nationwide have been additionally detained within the raid, Zambian officers mentioned.

Another court docket listening to is scheduled for Monday, however it was not clear whether or not the Egyptians would seem.

In Egypt, regardless of a close to blackout on state news media, unbiased journalists got down to uncover the identities of the Egyptians detained on the aircraft.

A couple of unbiased media organizations printed the names of the Egyptian defendants. Then an unbiased investigative outlet known as Matsada2sh, which is Arabic slang for Don’t Believe It, reported that three of them seemed to be former or present safety officers, together with a police officer, a army common and a former army attaché at Egypt’s embassy within the United States.

In its sparse protection of the incident, Egypt’s state news company quoted an nameless supply as saying that the aircraft had traveled by way of Cairo International Airport, the place it had “passed all safety and security inspections.”

On Saturday, safety officers compelled their approach into the house of one of many journalists who had lined the aircraft’s journey for Matsada2sh, based on one other worker of the location, who requested that his identify not be printed out of safety considerations.

The brokers compelled the journalist, Karim Asaad, to delete two posts on the outlet’s Facebook web page reporting that former or present members of the Egyptian safety institution have been being detained in Zambia. He was then detained.

Another worker of the identical web site, a girl working for its social media workforce, was additionally arrested on Saturday night. Her identify was not instantly launched.

Collins Chilumba Sampa contributed reporting from Lusaka, Zambia.