EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) — Egyptian authorities discovered a weapons cache on Friday, a day after two tunnels used by smugglers were found in the Sinai desert close to the border with the Gaza Strip, a security official said.
"Authorities discovered a large quantity of munitions, 20 anti-tank mines and shells in a disused cemetery in the town of Sheikh Zoweid, around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border," the official said.
Automatic weapons were also recovered at the site, which was discovered following a tip-off from a Bedouin, said the official, who requested anonymity.
Egyptian police also unearthed two tunnels close to the Gaza border on Thursday evening and found large quantities of food and car parts, the official added.
"The tunnels contained 100 plastic bags filled with juices, cheese and oil as well as a variety of car parts," he said, adding no-one had been arrested in connection with the find.
Both Israel and the United States accuse Egypt of not doing enough to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Cairo rejects this and says it regularly uncovers cross-border tunnels used by smugglers.
Israel frequently closes its crossings with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with the closures halting the transfer of badly-needed supplies into the impoverished Palestinian territory.
In the Egypt-mediated negotiations that led to the June 19 Gaza truce between the Jewish state and the Islamist Hamas, Israel demanded more vigorous Egyptian action against those trafficking in military contraband.
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