Egypt seizes arms convoy headed to Sinai

Roi Kais, YNET

Egyptian security forces were able to intercept a convoy of three trucks carrying illegal weapons en route to the Sinai Peninsula, Ynet learned Thursday.

According to Egyptian media, the arms shipment, which included surface-to-surface and anti-tank missiles, as well as RPG rockets, originated from Libya and was bound for the area between El-Arish and Rafah.

An Egyptian security source added that the trucks were stopped as part of a routine, random security check on vehicles travelling their route.

A report in Al-Ahram, Egyptian security forces were able to seize over 40 surface-to-surface missiles, 17 RPG rockers, and 120mm mortar shell launch-pad, seven assault rifles, surveillance equipment and over 10,000 rounds.

An Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report added that “These were quality weapons – not the kind you use to deal with regular police forces. This is indicative of perpetration for confrontation with the Egyptian Army.”

According to the newspaper’s sources, the shipment was “not sponsored by private individuals, but rather by international intelligence agencies trying to undermine Egypt’s internal security.”

Egyptian sources said that the drivers admitted being aware of the nature of their cargo.

May 11, 2012 | 10 Comments »

Leave a Reply

10 Comments / 10 Comments

  1. @ babara:

    Babsie as usual you don’t know what the hell you are talking about.

    Israel has moved way beyond any need of massive manpower required to monitor, track and identify what’s on the ground moving or static.

  2. @ BlandOatmeal:

    The Sinai region is larger than Israel proper. Redeploying troops there would be a massive undertaking and would remove troops from other hotspots leaving Israel quite vulnerable. Al Qaeda is now a headache for Israel which is a new and extremely dangerous development.

  3. I also posted a thoughtful comment, and it was vaporized by the system. I’m rather disgusted with this game.

  4. @ John M Collins:

    I do not think the withdrawal from Gaza has made an iota of difference to the present situation.

    The difference is that it’s worse for Israel. We lost control over our borders. Created a Vacuum of power filled by terrorists.

  5. Having been in Sinai during the last Israeli occupation, I can readily understand that it would be a headache for whoever was in occupation. I do not think the withdrawal from Gaza has made an iota of difference to the present situation.

  6. I posted a thoughtful comment, and it was vaporized by the system. I’m rather disgusted with this game.

  7. Sinai has become a political no-man’s land, which is probably as much as or more of a headache to the Egyptians as to Israel. Israel has the advantage of a defensible international border with the peninsula, whereas for Egypt the region, along with its incendiary, criminal Bedouin and their Al Qaeda connections, is a matter of internal concern.

    The 1979 Israeli-Egyptian treaty was supposed to create a demilitarized “buffer zone” in Egypt, effectively patrolled by the Americans. When Israel foolishly ethnically cleansed all the Jews from Gaza, the Gaza-Egypt frontier became a bonanza for arms dealers and smugglers, and involved Egyptian troops, as never before since 1979, in the bribe-taking, ineffective “policing” of the border — not to mention involving the Europeans as well, who have been of no practical value to anyone. The American presence has been useless throughout, and government there is quickly turning into anarchy orchestrated by the most extreme Muslims, like Somalia and Timbuktoo.

    The whole point of the buffer zone in the first place, was to keep Egyptian tanks at arms length from Israel. In this respect, it is similar to the previous, UN-policed, buffer that existed from 1957 to 1967, when Egypt’s Nasser ordered the UN troops to leave, occupied the peninsula and precipitated the war. With the new Egyptian regime today repeating the policies of Nasser and abrogating the treaty with Israel, I can understand the latter’s concern. Now, as before, third-party international efforts have proved to be useless. Sooner or later, Israel will have to re-occupy much or all of Sinai.