Story By: Basant Essam, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

A businessman who hoped to wash away his debts by allegedly shoving his best friend in the River Nile after pretending his car had broken down on a bridge was caught after the body became trapped in a whirling current known as the Nile Rose where it was found, and the crime uncovered.

Mohamed Abu Al-Ezz, the owner of a plastics factory, reportedly knew that his friend could not swim and believed he would quickly drown, with the body swept away downstream hundreds of miles, hiding the evidence of the crime hopefully forever.

However, he was caught when the body was trapped in the swirling ‘Nile Rose’ that catches items under the bridge in the Egyptian city of Mansoura, and the body was then spotted 10 days later and police were alerted.

The Nile Rose is so-named because of the swirling pattern of the waters that resemble a rose.

Ahmed Atef al-Sherbiny al-Zayni, 37, a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Engineering at Mansoura University in the Egyptian city of Mansoura, wanted to help his friend by lending him a large amount of money and persuaded other friends and relatives to support him.

But he needed to have the money repaid because his wife was pregnant with their second child, and they needed to cover expenses related to the childbirth, including medical bills. She was in hospital ready to give birth when he set off to ask his friend Mohamed to pay his debt.

The alleged killer however continued to make excuses about why he could not pay Ahmed and the others back straightaway, and after Ahmed became more insistent, he allegedly decided to kill him. Knowing that he could not swim, he reportedly pushed him into the River Nile.

Mohamed had told his victim’s wife when she wanted to know where her husband was that he had settled the debt and had not seen him since. The distraught woman, who was waiting to give birth, had refused and tried to hold things off until her husband turned up to witness the new arrival. After three days however it could no longer be stopped and the baby was born healthy but without ever seeing its father.

Mohamed is being held in custody after reportedly admitting to killing his friend by shoving him off the bridge and into the River Nile after the body was discovered in the current after he had been missing for 10 days.

The body has been sent for an autopsy as the investigation continues.