A spate of armed robberies hit Egypt this week. But early indications appear to show that there is more at stake than money, reports Jailan Halawi Armed theft and bank robbery are not among the common crimes in Egypt, yet this week witnessed four consecutive incidents that left the public shocked and seeking answers as to what the attacks might imply. The drama began on Saturday, 28 January, when breaking news announced that a group of armed Bedouins attacked an exchange office in the famous Red Sea Resort of Sharm El-Sheikh leaving a French national dead and two Egyptians, a German and a Russian tourist injured. According to police reports, the French national was killed in crossfire between the police and the assailants, excluding the possibility that the attack targeted tourists. Soon after the attack, a video taken by the exchange office's surveillance camera was posted on YouTube showing three culprits in Bedouin attire and accents robbing the office in face of flabbergasted employees. It was not clear how long it took the culprits to rob the bank, however, the one-minute video showed that all was done swiftly and smoothly in a hit and run manner. As the assailants left the exchange office, a wave of shooting could instantly be heard. Reportedly, the police were waiting outside and in the chase, the French national was killed by the robbers, one of the suspects was shot dead by the police, and the rest were arrested. Some LE2 million was seized along with weapons. It is not clear why the police did not make an early appearance. The incident will surely have an impact on an already ailing tourism season, sending back to square one the considerable efforts exerted by all those working in the field to revive the country's major bread-winning industry. Later in the day, a police patrol car was attacked while trying to prevent a group of armed robbers from breaking into some shops in the industrial area. The attempted theft was successfully aborted, but left behind three seriously injured police officers currently in El-Tor General Hospital. While the public was still speculating about what went wrong in the Red Sea resort city that seldom witnesses crimes of any sort, Egypt was dealt another blow. On Monday, 30 January, a group of seven masked and armed men attacked the branch of the HSBC bank in the fifth settlement (Tagamoa Khamis) of New Cairo in broad daylight, fleeing with an unidentified sum of money. Preliminary reports believe the amount to be close to LE1 million. Eyewitnesses say the attack did not take more than 10 minutes and again a video of it was circulated on YouTube, but this time showing the assailants in their escape with no one even trying to hold them back. The group of seven men, again in Bedouin attire, fled the scene in a black four-wheel-drive vehicle with a white minivan following at a distance. A couple of hours following the HSBC incident, breaking news of the theft of an AMANCO security vehicle that was transferring more than LE6 million in Helwan city on the outskirts of Cairo marked the largest robbery in Egypt so far. Consecutively, on Tuesday, 31 January, Helwan again suffered an armed robbery when five masked men attacked its post office, stealing LE150,000 and fleeing the scene after terrorising customers and employees by shooting at random. Eyewitnesses say the post office was an easy target due to the absence of any security personnel. Helwan residents blame the repetitive attacks on the negligence of security and armed forces to attend to their desperate calls to rid the city of thugs and outlaws. Later on Tuesday, Minister of Interior Major General Mohamed Ibrahim Youssef announced that the police had arrested one of the seven suspects of the HSBC bank robbery, Tamer Abu Heikal. In the raid, the police seized a sum of LE0.5 million, which reportedly was Tamer and his brother Rady's share from the HSBC theft, and another theft carried out two weeks ago in Helwan. Rady managed to escape and is currently being tracked by security forces. On Wednesday, two armed men robbed the Super Service Company, located at Nast City's Abbas El-Aqqad street fleeing with LE800,000. The company specialises in wire transfers. Meanwhile, investigations continue to unveil the identities of the company's robbers. On Thursday, the ministry of interior announced the arrest of another suspect of the HSBC bank robbery. Sources close to the theft investigations reportedly said that the Helwan post office incident was carried out by the same group involved in the HSBC theft, in retaliation for the arrest of their leader. Security reports rank Tamer as a hot shot in the world of crime, as well as the spearhead behind many of the armed robberies and related incidents in Cairo and Giza governorates. Police reports speculate that by his arrest such crimes will decline. The four thefts in a row left the public divided over who to blame. For some, the latest incidents are but an attempt by the Ministry of Interior to terrorise the public and justify a revival of emergency law. This camp believes that the police and armed forces orchestrated the attacks to put pressure on those staging ongoing protests. Others went as far as saying that it is an act of muscle flexing by the ministry, in a bid to show that they remain in control and can arrest the assailants and return the money. Other interviewees believe that such crimes reflect the negligence and failure of security agencies in doing their job. The speed with which the assailants carried out their crimes left some people wondering if crimes was beginning get more organised. Given the increasing rate of unemployment and poverty, some believe that people find stealing an easier way of obtaining money and providing for their families. Others wondered what happened to bank security, if such personnel should be armed and capable of firing on robbers? As AMANCO, some recommended using helicopters in transferring large sums of money, or at least using armoured vehicles. The funniest feedback on the spate of robberies was from those who claimed that while protesters commemorated the start of the 25 January Revolution, thugs and criminals commemorated the security vacuum that opened up in the midst of it. However, observers in the media and security field had another reading, proposing that as all of the crimes were seemingly conducted by Bedouins, there is a more profound message being conveyed. This reading was backed by breaking news Tuesday that Bedouins in central Sinai kidnapped 25 mostly Chinese cement factory workers and refused releasing them until authorities meet their demands. Fortunately, the Chinese expats were released Wednesday dawn following 16 hours of extensive negotiations with Sinai tribal leaders. The Chinese technicians and engineers were travelling to a military owned cement factory in the Lehfen area of northern Egypt when gunmen stopped their bus. The captives were held in tents near a road that Bedouins had blocked for the past four days to press their demands. The Bedoiuns demand that authorities free their fellow tribesman from prison those arrested between 2004 and 2006 in the aftermath of armed attacks on touristic establishments in the Red Sea Resorts of Taba, Nuweiba and Sharm El-Sheikh that left 31 people dead. Some are in detention while others were handed sentences that range from life to the death penalty. The kidnappers further demanded that authorities open the Rafah border and stop exporting gas to Israel. In response, the minister of interior denied that prisons had a single political prisoner in detention, challenging anyone to prove otherwise. He further noted that all Sinai tribesmen jailed are there according to court rulings. However, the deputy for Sinai, Mohsen Abu Hassan, said that a large number of Sinai Bedouins are in detention without a court ruling. In response, Saad El-Katatni, speaker of the People's Assembly, assigned the human rights committee to verify the facts of the matter. On his Tuesday show on Dream2 Satellite channel, TV host Wael El-Ebrahsy said that what happened in central Sinai in partly the government's fault. "Even after the revolution, authorities still fail to attend to the Bedouins' needs and demands. They remain marginalised, deprived higher posts and always charged with being traitors, drug and arms dealers, as stigmatised by the ousted regime who tarnished their reputation, despite being the ones that defended Sinai and helped us regain our land," El-Ebrashy said. El-Ebrashy called upon authorities to start listening to their demands and embark on a development scheme aimed at raising their standards of living. Failing that, El-Ebrashy warned of a new phase of kidnappings if demands are not met. Voicing the same opinion, a security source speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity opined that the week's robberies topped by kidnappings are nothing but "a sample of what the Bedouins can do to hurt authorities that fail to acknowledge their powerful existence". The only way out of the vicious circle, explained the source, is for "all concerned parties to realise that it is time to reintegrate all those marginalised by the ousted regime and seriously attend to their demands, for the wellbeing of the nation."
