Gaza smuggling tunnel
Photo: Reuters
Report: Egypt finds 266 rockets near Israel border
Weapons cache apparently bound for Gaza Strip uncovered in Sinai includes three antitank missiles, dozens of mines, shells and grenades, al-Quds al-Arabi reports. Meanwhile, Almustaqbal newspaper reports Iranian cell operating in Egypt uncovered
Egyptian security forces uncovered 266 rockets and three antitank missiles in a cache near the border with Israel, an Egyptian security source told the London-based al-Quds al-Arab newspaper.
The source said the weapons were likely meant to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
The cache, that was located in northern Sinai, also contained 43 mines, 51 shells, 21 grenades and 178 machinegun bullets.
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The source said Egyptian security forces did not find any suspects when they stormed the hideout, in which they found another 50 grenades, 80 mortar shells, 20 rockets and some 500 bullets.
Spreading Shi'ite doctrine
Meanwhile, reports of terror organizations in Egypt continue to make headlines, and Lebanese daily Almustaqbal reported on Friday that Egyptian authorities arrested four members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who had set up an intelligence cell on Egyptian soil.The arrests were carried out some five months ago, and the report said the suspects were sent by the Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds unit.
The cell was headed by Iranian intelligence officer of Muhammad Alam a-Din, who entered Egypt in the summer of 2006 using a forged Iraqi passport by the name of Ali Zuhdi.
Alam a-Din purchased an apartment near Cairo and was assimilated into the Iraqi refugee community where he welcomed the other three members of the cell.
The Egyptian security forces only uncovered the cell's activity after two years of its operation. They began to suspect Alam a-Din after he began making frequent trips to Sinai and contacting a number of smugglers in the area.
Soon after putting him under surveillance, the Egyptians discovered Alam a-Din's ties to three other suspects. The three were arrested in December, and Alam a-Din was arrested in El-Arish in northern Sinai.
The Lebanese newspaper reported that the four gave "alarming confessions" in their investigations, and said they were sent by the Iranian al-Quds unit's commander Qassem Sulaimani, to set up an intelligence network in Egypt.
The suspects confessed to using forged Iraqi passports to pave the way for their activity in Egypt, and said the mission assigned to them was to spread the Shi'ite doctrine in Egypt and strengthen Iran's status among the Egyptians and Iraqi refugees in the area, and to make contact with Bedouin tribes in Sinai.
