CAIRO: Three Bedouins were arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from northern Sinai, security sources said.
Abdullah Salem Abdullah, Kamal Mussalam Salem and Hani Eid Ibrahim were arrested Friday at a checkpoint 160 km. from the border town of Rafah after police found 159 crates containing automatic weapons and ammunition in their truck.
Arms smugglers move weapons between Egypt and Gaza through a system of underground tunnels.
On Thursday, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer complained to President Hosni Mubarak that weapons, including anti-tank missiles, were being smuggled in large quantities through tunnels and by sea into the Gaza Strip.
I told President Mubarak that the arms smuggling via the tunnels and by sea is continuing in large quantities, Ben Eliezer said after talks with the president.
Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed concern about high-grade weapons being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, and have called on Egypt to take more effective action on its side of the border to clamp down on contraband.
