Seven Palestinian Authority Arabs have been arrested by Egypt security forces on suspicion of carrying out a military reconnaissance mission. It is not clear for whom they may have been spying.
The men were stopped at Cairo airport, and held after their arrival Wednesday from Syria and Iran.
All were found to be carrying fake passports, according to the source, as well as maps of “vital state facilities.”
Passport officers suspected the seven after learning they had entered Iran, despite not finding Iranian entry stamps in their passports, an Egyptian intelligence source told The Egypt Independent.
A separate source told the Turkish news agency Anadolu the suspects had initially entered Egypt through underground tunnels from Gaza before heading to Syria and Iran. They returned to Syria and then to Egypt from Syria, this time by aircraft.
They are suspected of collecting material on sensitive military installations in Egypt, the sources said, adding the seven are being interrogated about their reasons for possessing the maps.