CAIRO: Two men have been detained on charges of stealing subsidized flour, state-run newspapers reported.
Head of Cairo security Ismail El-Shaer told Al Ahram that the men will be held in detention while the case is investigated.
According to the article, the men were detained as part of a campaign by security forces to arrest individuals who are “fraudulently interfering with the people’s wealth and causing the bread crisis.
The men are being held under emergency law.
Soaring international wheat prices and domestic inflation have combined to create severe economic hardship for Egypt’s poor who are heavily reliant on bread made using government-subsidized flour. The prices of some basic food commodities have doubled over the past three years.
The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that in recent months fatalities have been caused after fights over bread broke out in queues outside bakeries.
Smuggling subsidized flour to private sector bakeries is believed to be a major part of the problem
This prompted the government to order the army to produce bread in order to make up for the shortage, and enforce stricter supervision over the use and distribution of subsidized flour.
