EGYPTIAN ARMY DESTROYS OVER 1,700 TUNNELS ON ITS BORDER

Image from March 15, when the Egyptian army demolished 4 houses using explosives, which had tunnels under them — **Image from March 15, when the Egyptian army using explosives, demolished 4 houses which had tunnels inside.**

Gaza, 27 Sha’ban 1435/25 June 1435 (MINA) – The Egyptian Army destroyed two tunnels on the Egyptian-Gazan border, bringing the total number of tunnels ruined to 1,736.

Security sources said that Egyptian border guards have continued their intensive activity to deal with smugglers and armed groups which aim to compromise national security at all levels, Middle East Monitor quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Wednesday (25/6).

The western military region is managed by border guards in cooperation with the Air Force and have succeeded in seizing an individual in possession of 30 shotguns in the area of Salloum.

They also seized three SUVs which had no license plates and were loaded with a large quantity of cigarettes, and destroyed a fourth with the help of air traffic control on the border with Libya.

In Al-Arish, the border guards of the Second Army Field arrested six armed individuals and seized an SUV and six motorcycles without license plates, as well as a truck carrying 100 kilogrammes of explosives. Six cars loaded with large quantities of food, medicines and goods which were to be smuggled were also seized.

Egypt’s crackdown on tunnels used by smugglers to bring everything from cement to take-out dinners into Gaza have wrecked havoc on its economy.

Unemployment rose 6 percent to 38.5 percent in the last quarter of 2013. That is its highest level in three years, and more than double that of the West Bank, according to a report from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

At time same time, costs are rising steeply. Since Egypt’s crackdown in August, the cost of a box of eggs has risen from around 10 shekels ($2.85) to 16 shekels ($4.54), while cement prices have nearly tripled to 1,000 shekels ($285) per ton. The tunnels had supplied as much as 50 percent of Gaza’s daily necessities, including subsidized Egyptian fuel and raw materials, since Israel imposed an economic blockade on Gaza following Hamas’s takeover in 2007. (T/P03/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)