Egyptian security forces on Sunday destroyed a large tunnel under the country's border with the Gaza Strip that smugglers had used to get cars into the territory, police said.
The tunnel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Egypt, the Gaza Strip and Israel was destroyed after Israeli carried out air strikes near the Egyptian-Gazan border in a bid to curb the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, Egyptian authorities said.
A lucrative smuggling trade in basic commodities, drugs, weapons and even cars and motorcycles has grown along the border since Israel and Egypt imposed an embargo on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Hamas movement took over the security forces in the Strip in 2007.
Anonymous security sources last week told the Egyptian daily al-Shorouq that Egypt had almost completed a reinforced, underground steel wall along the border. However, police said the tunnel destroyed Sunday was in an area where the underground barrier has not been started yet.
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