Last update - 00:00 22/11/2007
Egypt police discover one ton of explosives on Gaza border
By The Associated Press
Egyptian police discovered a ton of explosives hidden in an underground cache on the border with the Gaza Strip during a search for smuggling tunnels, a security official said Thursday.
The cache was discovered behind a school in the sparsely populated Ahrash region near the border town of Rafah, the official added on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The discovery comes just two days after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that Egypt was doing everything it could to search for tunnels used to smuggle weapons and contraband to militants in the Gaza Strip, following Israeli and American criticism.
"In the past eight months we have found 186 tons of explosives," said Mubarak on Tuesday in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Rather than criticize Egypt's efforts, the president said, there should be more coordination between the country's respective security agencies.
"If you have information, why don't you tell our agencies about it and then we can coordinate," he said. "The security agencies of Israel and Egypt can meet on a daily basis and discuss all these issues instead of letting resentment build up for a month or two until it explodes."
Olmert agreed at the press conference that there would be increased coordination between the nations' security forces.
On Sunday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter criticized Egypt for not doing enough to stop the rampant smuggling into the Gaza Strip, claiming that the Egyptians could put an end to the smuggling of weapons and supplies across their border "within one hour."
Dichter added that in light of the ongoing smuggling and Egypt's failure to prevent it, a major Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza seems inevitable.
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