Gazette Staff ALEXANDERIA, July 4, 2018 - The anti-narcotics squad in Alexandria yesterday foiled an attempt by a multi-national gang to smuggle six tonnes of hashish into the country, a senior Interior Ministry official said. Police Major General Magdi el-Semari, the head of the Anti-Narcotics Department, said the gang had tried to disguise the hashish shipment as leather goods that were to be imported into Egypt from Lebanon on board three cargo ships. Maj. Gen. el-Semari said that 33,000 blocks of hashish - the largest drugs haul in several years in Egypt- were seized after the ships arrived at Alexandria port. He said that four Lebanese sailors were being questioned on charges ofdrug trafficking after they were caught with the six tonnes of hashish, which they were going to deliver to two Egyptians. The police have arrested Egyptian national Ahmed Moustafa Ali, 40, who confessed to buying the six-tonne hashish consignment with his brother and accomplice Hani, who is still at large, Maj. General el-Semari said. "If convicted, the men will face the death penalty," he said. "This is the biggest drugs bust this year," he added. Ahmed and the four sailors were arrested after the police officers, acting on a tip-off, searched the three Lebanese ships after they had docked at the port earlier in the day. The hashish was found in wooden boxes containing leather goods, he said. Spurred on by suspicions that the international gangs considered Egypt a potential hub for the drug trade, security authorities have over the past four years tightened their control ofthe country's coasts.
