Security sources said on Sunday that police had confiscated 250 kg of Hashish from drug smugglers in the southern Sinai Peninsula.
The sources said that the smugglers, who had been attempting to cross the border into Israel, had shot at police before fleeing into the desert, leaving the contraband behind.
Security forces also say they have discovered nine tunnels in the border city of Rafah used for smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip. Large quantities of cement were reportedly found in the possession of one resident in the vicinity.
Egyptian authorities have kept the Rafah border crossing open from both sides to allow the flow of humanitarian aid supplies into the territory as was decreed by President Hosni Mubarak early last month. Border authorities say that a total of 21,285 Palestinians have crossed into Egypt since the Rafah terminal was opened on 1 June, while 10,808 people have crossed into the strip from Egypt.
In related news, police found a Chinese national lying in the street next to the Sheikh Zeweid Hospital who had been shot in the leg. The victim told police he had been trying to cross the border into Israel when the people who had promised to facilitate his crossing disagreed with him over money, shot him, and dumped him next to the hospital.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
