Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai cited "Egyptian sources" Tuesday as saying that Egyptian security forces recently arrested 17 people of various citizenships, who were members of three spy rings and were in touch with Israel's Mossad agency.
The sources said that some of the people arrested are diplomats from unnamed countries, and that their intelligence reports had been transferred via diplomatic mail. These reports focused on the economic situation in Egypt, the public mood, as well as security and military information, especially with regard to the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian security also found a large amount of photographs of military installations, military armored vehicles stationed in cities, and state-of-the-art means of espionage and communications that served to relay information to "another global spy agency."
The Egyptian sources reportedly said that the country's security and intelligence agencies stepped up their surveillance of diplomatic missions in Egypt after it turned out that some of them have been harboring "terror activists" and transferring funds to "terror organizations" attempting to create chaos in Egypt.
Several days ago, Egypt announced it was expelling the Turkish ambassador to Cairo because of Ankara's support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's relations with Qatar also worsened after president Muhammad Morsi was deposed in July, because of the emirate's support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mentioning Mossad in Egypt is often done simply in an attempt to discredit one's rival.