Egypt
EgyptiStock

An Israeli citizen was detained in Egypt over the weekend on charges of possessing a weapons magazine in his car with which he crossed the border from Israel into Egypt.

The Department of Israelis Abroad in the Foreign Ministry's Consular Department, through the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, spent many hours dealing with the case. The Israeli had inadvertently left the magazine in one of his bags before he crossed the border.

Ultimately, after more than 30 hours of detention, the Israeli was released by Egyptian authorities and fined an undisclosed sum of money.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed to Israeli citizens on Saturday night that they must carefully examine the contents of their vehicles, suitcases and bags, and locate weapons and bullets, whether they are crossing land border crossings or flying to destinations abroad.

"Bringing weapons into a foreign country constitutes a criminal offense that may lead to investigation, arrest and trial proceedings which, at best, will result in prolonged detention in the destination country and the payment of high fines," the ministry said.

In light of the many incidents in which civilians did not check their belongings and were forced to pay a heavy price for this, the Foreign Ministry urged Israeli travelers to carefully inspect their belongings and prevent unnecessary aggravation.