Tunnel vision as Egypt seals off smugglers' routes

[bemildred]

CAIRO: The Egyptian government has begun sealing a series of smugglers' tunnels along its border with the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and security officials.

The action is seen as an attempt to increase security after a violent cross-border incident with Israel set off the worst diplomatic conflict between the countries since the Camp David accords.

The area around the town of Rafah is rife with smuggling as hundreds of tunnels ferry construction materials, consumer goods and weapons into Gaza to bypass the Israeli blockade. Israel contends the tunnels also facilitate attacks by militants.
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The smuggling has only increased since the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February, as police officers pulled back from the Sinai Peninsula in the early days of the uprising, reducing security in the area. Mr Mubarak's trial was due to resume in Cairo yesterday.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/tunnel-vision-as-egypt-seals-off-smugglers-routes-20110905-1jub8.html

[jimmie]

1. Well, that little lovefest didn't last long.

nt

[Scurrilous]

2. Egypt denies conducting operations to destroy Gaza tunnels

Previous media reports said that Egypt had begun operations to close smuggling tunnels under its border with the Gaza Strip.

<snip>

"Egypt denied on Monday that it was undertaking drilling operations along the Gaza-Egypt border to destroy and seal a number of smuggling tunnels delivering supplies to Gaza.

The governor of North Sinai, General Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said there was no campaign intended to destroy the tunnels, adding that, if there were a plan, "residents in Gaza would be informed in order to protect the lives of Palestinians that work in the tunnels."

He told the German Press Agency dpa: "The two large loading trucks which arrived on the border are property of a contractor and not the province."

Media reports said that Egypt had launched a campaign to close the tunnels. One Palestinian newspaper, al-Ayyam, described it as the largest operation since the revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

The newspaper reported that Egyptian security forces were using modern equipment and machines in drilling operations at the southern point of the border, near Yebna camp, and the Salaheddin Gate, at the Rafah border."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-denies-conducting-operations-to-destroy-gaza-tunnels-1.382705

[jimmie]

3. LOL....like they're going to say

"yes,we're closing the tunnels cause we're a bunch of hypocrits that talk a good game but we really dont give a flying spit about them" ??

too funny