Egyptian security forces Sunday destroyed a large tunnel under the country's border with the Gaza Strip that smugglers had used to get cars into the territory, police said. The tunnel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Egypt, the Gaza Strip and Israel was destroyed after Israeli carried out air strikes near the Egyptian-Gazan border in a bid to curb the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, Egyptian authorities said Sunday. A lucrative smuggling trade in basic commodities, drugs, weapons and even cars and motorcycles has grown along the border since Israel imposed an embargo on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Hamas movement took over the security forces in the Strip in 2007. However, police said the tunnel destroyed was in an area where the underground barrier has not been started yet. Relations between Egypt and Hamas deteriorated after news of the planned barrier was first leaked to the press late last year. Hamas officials have protested against the reported wall in interviews with regional media. In related news, police told dpa that Egyptian security guards had arrested three Gazan fishermen after they ventured into Egyptian territorial waters, the fourth such arrests in two months.
