Airport customs officials in Cairo foil bid to smuggle in 45 bladed weapons, narcotic pills

Two passengers who arrived at Cairo International Airport are to be prosecuted in separate cases for trying to smuggle in items in violation of customs laws. (Supplied)
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Updated 15 January 2023
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Airport customs officials in Cairo foil bid to smuggle in 45 bladed weapons, narcotic pills

  • A manual inspection then resulted in the seizure of the bladed items

CAIRO: Two passengers who arrived at Cairo International Airport are to be prosecuted in separate cases for trying to smuggle in items in violation of customs laws.

The first passenger was held in possession of 45 bladed weapons, while the other was carrying a quantity of tramadol tablets.

The passenger facing legal action over the bladed weapons was on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul. He was stopped by a customs officer at the gate and an inspection of his baggage by the X-ray machine revealed the presence of metallic objects.

A manual inspection then resulted in the seizure of the bladed items.

The second case was investigated in coordination with the General Department for Drug Control at the airport.

Officials said 240 tablets of tramadol, a pain medication, were seized during the completion of customs procedures for passengers arriving on a flight from Athens.

Separately, customs authorities reported a foreign female passenger had been held in possession of 15 narcotic items, and an Egyptian passenger for having five drugs-related packages.

The first passenger was stopped following customs procedures for passengers from an Egyptian flight which had arrived from Johannesburg. She was trying to reach the travel hall with Hurghada, Egypt, as its destination.

She denied possession of the drugs but a search of her bags revealed marijuana oil in her luggage.

There were 13 plastic packages containing the drug, along with two items used to heat the items.

The passenger on the flight from Milan was found to be in possession of five packages containing drugs.


Iran, UK foreign ministers in rare direct contact

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Iran, UK foreign ministers in rare direct contact

  • A UK government source said Cooper “emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear program and raised a number of other issues”

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has spoken by phone with his British counterpart Yvette Cooper, an Iranian foreign ministry statement said on Saturday, in a rare case of direct contact between the two countries.

The ministry said that in Friday’s call the ministers “stressed the need to continue consultations at various levels to strengthen mutual understanding and pursue issues of mutual interest.”

A UK government source said Cooper “emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear program and raised a number of other issues.”

The source in London said Cooper raised the case of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran for nearly a year on suspicion of espionage.

The Iranian ministry statement did not mention the case of the two Britons.

It said Araghchi criticized “the irresponsible approach of the three European countries toward the Iranian nuclear issue,” referring to Britain, France and Germany.

The three countries at the end of September initiated the

reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program.

The Foremans, both in their early fifties, were seized in January as they passed through Kerman, in central Iran, while on a round-the-world motorbike trip.

Iran accuses the couple of entering the country pretending to be tourists so as to gather information for foreign intelligence services, an allegation the couple’s family rejects.

Before Friday’s call, the last exchange between the two ministers was in October.