Egyptian police seize Gaza arms dealers

Ma'an News Agency
June 16, 2011

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2258/egyptian-police-seize-gaza-arms-dealers

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian police in the northern Sinai said officers had arrested a ring of Palestinian arms dealers on Wednesday who were preparing to bring a shipment of automatic weapons, flak jackets and night vision goggles into Gaza.

An Egyptian fixer working alongside the three arms dealers was also detained, director of the Sinai security forces Saleh Al-Masri told Ma'an.

The weapons - Israeli and American - were being sold to buyers in Egypt and Gaza, Al-Masri said.

According to Egyptian police, the shipment included 10 Israeli Uzi automatic weapons, 5 American M16 rifles, night-vision goggles, protection vests, and a large quantity of assorted ammunition packed in boxes.

The Egyptian city of El-Arish has, since 2006, become a hub for smugglers transporting goods into the Gaza Strip.

Tunnels were dug to supply the 1.6 million Gaza residents with food, construction materials, farm animals and later cars and weapons, after Israel imposed its blockade on the coastal enclave.

In a statement released on Tuesday marking the fifth year of the siege, UN refugee agency spokesman Chris Gunness said: "If the aim of the blockade policy was to weaken the Hamas administration, the public employment numbers suggest this has failed."

Citing statistics that showed huge wage cuts and unemployment in the private sector and a comparative growth in the public sector under the Hamas-run government, Gunness added that the siege, "has certainly been highly successful in punishing some of the poorest of the poor in the Middle East region."

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