'Egypt indicts 2 Israelis for smuggling gun'

Eilat resident carried weapon into Egypt at Taba border crossing in wooden crate shaped like a cross, 'Al-Ahram' reports.

By REUTERS
Egypt border 311 (photo credit: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
Egypt border 311
(photo credit: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
CAIRO - Egypt has indicted two Israelis and a Ukrainian for smuggling a machinegun and ammunition across the border into Egypt, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported on its website on Monday.
The weapon was the sort used by police on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, "which indicates that it could be used for illegal operations that could be pinned on Egyptian security personnel," the newspaper reported.
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The border region with Egypt, which has long been a conduit for the smuggling of guns and people, has been hit by a number of gas pipeline explosions and cross-border attacks over the past year.
Al-Ahram said the Ukrainian, manager of a tourism company in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, had ordered the weapon from an Israeli, Mamoun al-Alimi.
Another Israeli, Ma`az Zuhair Zahlaqa, who lived in Eilat, brought the weapon into Egypt at the border at Taba in a wooden crate shaped like a cross.
The machinegun and ammunition were discovered when the crate was placed on an explosives detection machine, the newspaper said.
The Ukrainian and Zahlaqa were in custody while Alimi was still in Israel, according to the report.


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