CAIRO: Egyptian and Libyan officials have refuted reports of the arrest of a Libyan man suspected of planning an attack on the Cairo Metro.
Two respective sources denied the claim and said that the rumor was no more than “media hype.
The story was first published in Al-Wafd newspaper, which reported yesterday that a Libyan man had been apprehended by police officials in Nasr City on Monday.
The arrest was allegedly part of a police investigation that had been initiated in response to a series of bomb threats reported to the Cairo police last Wednesday.
Since then, officials have heightened security measures at Metro and train stations across the city, including deploying metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs, and systematic bag checks at station entrances
The unnamed source quoted in Al-Wafd alleged that the suspect had been planning a terror attack on the Metro and had connections to Al-Qaeda cells in Giza, and Alexandria. He also said that there was a second Libyan who had escaped and that police were currently looking for him.
However, when questioned about these reports, officials from both the Libyan Embassy and the Cairo police denied that any arrests had taken place.
The Libyan embassy informed The Daily Star Egypt that no Libyan had been arrested and that the rumor was no more than media hype.
A spokesperson at the police station in Dokki also refuted the claim. “There has been no one – Libyan or non-Libyan – arrested by the Cairo police. The press has been saying this, but it has no factual basis.
In addition AFP, which released the original story of the Metro bomb threats, told The Daily Star Egypt that its sources were issuing similar denials of any arrests.
The Ministry of the Interior claimed that it knew nothing of the investigation or of any detainment of terrorist suspects.
“We cannot confirm or deny it. The Ministry has not been issued any report on this matter, a ministry spokesperson told The Daily Star Egypt. The ministry has also not released an official statement explaining the heightened state of alert at the Cairo Metro over the last week.
The increased security and investigations came in response to a series of phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday threatening the Shubra Al-Kheima Metro station in northern Cairo.
