Half ton of explosives found near Egyptian border with Gaza

Mar 23, 2009, 14:19 GMT

Al-Arish, Egypt - Egyptian security forces discovered half a ton of explosives not far from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, police said Monday.

Police found more than 500 kilos of TNT, along with light weapons and remnants from the peninsula's past wars in the dunes less than 40 kilometres from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip at Rafah, a source in Egypt's security forces told German Press Agency dpa on condition of anonymity.

He said the weapons and explosives were packed into plastic bags, apparently ready for smuggling into the Gaza Strip.

Police said they had also found six new smuggling tunnels near the Salah al-Din gate between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the divided town of Rafah.

The news came as police in Rafah prepared to auction more than 500 sheep intercepted en route to the Gaza Strip. Gas canisters and several tons of cement were seized in that raid, police said.

Egypt has come under increasing pressure, particularly from Israel and the United States, to crack down on weapons smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip.

On March 13, the governments of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the United States agreed to coordinate efforts to curtail smuggling across the border by sharing intelligence more closely and presenting a common diplomatic front on the question.

In February, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rejected a US- Israeli agreement on ending weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip signed just before former US president George W Bush left office.

Speaking to police officers on February 4, Mubarak said 'the smuggling of goods is the result of the blockade, and ... Egypt is not bound by the Israeli-American agreement on monitoring arms smuggling into Gaza.'

'Like any responsible state, we are able to secure our borders,' Mubarak said. 'We insist that any international-Israeli arrangements should be kept away from Egypt's territory, airspace and territorial waters.'