CAIRO, May 10, 2012 (AFP)
CAIRO, May 10, 2012 (AFP)
Egyptian security said on Thursday that it had seized a large weapons cache of surface-to-surface rockets and a mortar, probably smuggled from its western neighbour Libya.
Security found the arsenal, which included 50 rockets, a mortar, thousands of bullets and seven assault rifles, in a convoy of three vehicles travelling eastwards from the western city of Marsa Matruh.
A security official said the weapons were probably smuggled from Libya, and added that three men in the convoy were arrested.
Weapons from Libya, where heavily armed rebels overthrew and later killed veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi with NATO help last year, are believed to have found their way through Egypt to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa franchise said late last year that it had also acquired some of Kadhafi’s arsenal, in comments reported by a Mauritanian news agency.
