Ancient mummy found in fetal position inside cooler bag in Peru

An ancient mummy was discovered by Peruvian police after searching the cooler bag of a 26-year-old food delivery man who caught their attention by drinking at an archaeological site in Puno on Saturday.

Photos from the scene show the police after they found the mummy, which is estimated to be about 600-800 years old, in a fetal position and wrapped with bandages in a cooler bag for the Latin American food delivery service Pedidos Ya, according to CNN.

The man, identified by AFP as Julio Cesar Bermejo, told the media that he named the mummy Juanita and takes her home to "take care of her" as well as sleep beside it.

He also claimed that the mummy originally belonged to his father without specifying how it fell into his father's possession. 

A Peruvian newspaper El Comercio reported that the man had brought it out of his house to show his friends from the neighborhood.

What did the Peruvian Culture Ministry say?

"The remains, classified as a national cultural asset of the country, were identified as those of a mummified adult man presumably from the eastern area of Puno," the Peruvian Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

A specialist from the ministry said that the mummy was in fact a male who died at around 45 years old and was then mummified.

"The Culture Ministry immediately ordered the custody of the aforementioned movable property, in order to protect and preserve the heritage," the Ministry said. "The Ministry of Culture calls on citizens to actively collaborate in the defense and protection of our precious heritage, notifying our entity of any finding or attack on movable or immovable cultural heritage."

Police detained the man and his two friends who he had been hanging out in the park with the mummy. His friends are being investigated for "possible crimes against Peru's cultural heritage," according to BBC News.