CAIRO: Egyptian security forces said Monday they discovered a cache containing 110 old landmines near the border with Israel in Sinai which they believe were going to be recycled by smugglers for explosives.
The mines, remants of Israeli-Egyptian wars, had been hidden in an underground cave in the Abu Agila region in central Sinai, a security source said.
They were placed there by smugglers who were going to extract the TNT and make their own explosives which are easier to handle, the source told AFP.
No arrests were made and police have cordoned off the area.
Israel has repeatedly complained that Egypt is not doing enough to prevent arms smuggling by Palestinian groups into the Gaza strip.
Egypt has asked Israel to renegotiate their 1979 peace treaty in order to deploy more troops along the border in a bid to stem the arms flow.
But the Jewish state is very reluctant to agree, an Israeli diplomatic source said recently in Egypt adding that Israel believes the 750 Egyptian border guards already patrolling the Gaza border can be more effective in stopping the weapons smuggling.
