Egyptian troops found a huge weapons cache in central Sinai early on Thursday morning, according to the Egyptian daily Al-Yaum As-Sabach. The cache contained an estimated 100 anti-aircraft missiles, 45 missile launchers, 40 bombs, and more.
It is not yet clear where the weapons were from, or what their owners intended to do with them. However, troops suspect that the weapons were gathered by Sinai Bedouin who intended to smuggle them into Gaza.
Sinai Bedouin often gather weapons from sites that were once battle zones. Many of the explosives discovered Thursday were apparently extracted from other weapons.
The cache was discovered one day after Egyptian troops found a smaller cache and arrested two weapons smugglers.
Thursday's discovery was made based on intelligence information. According to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, the information was gathered from Gaza teens who were caught entering Egypt via the series of smuggling tunnels in the border city of Rafiah.