CAIRO: According to local Al-Shorouk daily on Thursday. Egypt denied building an anti-smuggling underground iron wall on its border with the Gaza Strip.
“Egypt is dealing with smuggling seriously and capable of stopping it without this wall, the report quoted a security source as saying.
A later report published by the Associated Press (AP) Thursday evening, however, quoted an unnamed security official as saying that “a project is under way along the Gaza border to stem smuggling into the Palestinian territory through underground tunnels. An area resident also told AP that he had seen Egyptian crews near his home clearing a corridor about 90 meters from the border over the past 20 days. He said that “they are drilling holes about 20 meters deep and filling them with sand.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Egyptian engineers were carrying out major excavation work at the Gaza border on Wednesday as an anti-smuggling barrier was under construction.
According to Haaretz, the assumed wall will extend 20 to 30 meters underground in a bid to block the smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.
Egypt beefed up security measures along its border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip to combat smuggling to the Israeli-blockaded enclave. -Daily News Egypt
