RAFAH: Thirteen tunnels used to smuggle goods under the border between Egypt and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have been found in the past two days, an Egyptian security official told AFP on Thursday.
Cement, steel reinforcing rods and foodstuffs were all seized either inside or near the passageways, the official told AFP.
He said police also arrested one suspected smuggler armed with an automatic weapon and that others managed to escape. The area where the tunnels were discovered has now been sealed off ahead of their destruction.
Israel and Egypt first imposed the closures after Gaza militants kidnapped a soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006 and tightened them when Hamas seized power in 2007.
Tunnels under the town of Rafah that straddles the Egypt-Gaza frontier are used to transfer all kinds of goods into the densely populated Palestinian enclave, even cattle and dismantled vehicles.
Egypt is building an underground barrier aimed at ending the tunnel trade, after repeated efforts to find and demolish the supply pipelines. Regular Israeli air strikes have also failed to end the thriving business.
Smugglers in Sinai say that most of the tunnels, which are licensed on the Palestinian end by Hamas, are used to smuggle contraband, but that Hamas also operates a few used solely for weapons.
