A security source said on Wednesday that the Egyptian border police succeeded in thwarting an attempt to smuggle automatic weapons and ammunition from Libya through the Salloum border crossing.
The police spotted the smugglers driving a Land Cruiser without license plates and exchanged fire with them, the source said. The smugglers abandoned the car and ran away, leaving behind 21 automatic rifles, four machine guns, four sniper rifles and 105,000 bullets.
Prosecutors reportedly ordered police to search for and arrest the smugglers.
Egyptian media has reported a rise in arms smuggling across the Libyan border since the ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi in October.
A senior Israeli official said in July that Libya has become a new source of weapons for the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
