Egypt Seizes Another Arms Cache in Sinai, Official Says

A weapons hideout containing 21 anti-aircraft shells, six anti-tank mines and an anti-aircraft gun is exposed in Sinai; only two days after two tons of explosives are seized on way to restive peninsula.

Egyptian authorities have seized a weapons cache in the Sinai desert, a security official said on Sunday, only two days after authorities said they had captured a large stockpile of explosives bound for the restive peninsula.

The arms were seized overnight in al-Arish, the capital city of the North Sinai district, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“The seized weapons include 21 anti-aircraft shells, six anti-tank mines and an anti-aircraft gun,” he said. No arrests were made.

On Friday, security authorities said they had captured two tons of explosives in the main Suez transport tunnel that links Egypt to the Sinai.

The remote desert peninsula has been plagued with lawlessness since Hosni Mubarak’s fall in February 2011.

In the past two years, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has confiscated hundreds of weapons smuggled from Libya. Officials say some of these weapons are then smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

On January 20, Egyptian authorities seized a ton of explosives bound for Gaza, security officials said at the time. The weapons were discovered when a truck that was deemed suspicious was searched at a checkpoint between mainland Egypt and Sinai.

In August 2012, the army launched a large-scale campaign in Sinai against Islamist militants after 16 Egyptian soldiers near the border with Gaza were killed.