CAIRO, May 10 (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces have
seized 40 surface-to-surface missiles and other heavy weapons
being smuggled along the northern coastal highway from Libya by
a group from the Sinai Peninsula, state media reported on
Thursday.
The arms had been seized on the road between Marsa Matrouh
and Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, state media reported.
The smugglers had confessed to bringing the weapons to the
country to sell them on to dealers, the state news agency MENA
said. There was no word on the source of the weapons.
Israeli officials said last year that Libya, which borders
Egypt to the west, had become a major source of weapons being
smuggled into the Sinai Peninsula, which borders both Israel and
the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The MENA news agency said the cache
included mortars and heavy ammunition.
