A member of the Suez Canal Authority was said to be involved in the scheme. Those arrested, among whom an employee of the Suez Canal, had disposed of the explosives, particularly in electrical installations and beaches. Around 18,000 ships pass through the canal annually, which amounts to 10% of global maritime trade.
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A project to build a new 72 km waterway, which will enable two-way traffic and double the current daily ship capacity, began last August. Attacks against the canal have the potential to severely impeded Egypt’s economic development. He is being held in Cairo’s Kasr el Nil police station pending investigation on charges of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, according to news reports.
The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism designed to reverse what it calls a military coup, after ex- army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi, and then went on to become elected president.
Egypt regards the Muslim Brotherhood in the same category as the Islamic State and other Islamist militant groups intent on disrupting peace, as well as government policies and functions.
In recent days, Egyptian security forces stepped up their crackdown on the Brotherhood, arresting scores of the group’s middle-ranking members. The group has one of its largest organizations in Egypt even though the government officially declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2014.
A Brotherhood source told Anadolu Agency that the nine people were killed when security forces stormed their apartment, but denied claims that they were armed.
In 2013, the army toppled the Brotherhood’s government and its then leader, Mohamed Morsi, was issued a preliminary death sentence earlier this year.
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Among the dead was a prominent lawyer for the Brotherhood and a ex- lawmaker.
