Egyptian police have detained a man they say was transporting $2 million to north Sinai to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip to the Islamist group Hamas, security sources said on Saturday. The man, Hassan Mohamed Hassouna, was detained in Cairo along with his driver and eight-year-old son around a week ago, the sources said.
The child was returned to his family in north Sinai after spending three days in detention, they added. The sources said Hassouna named three other men as accomplices during his interrogation. Egypt is eager to show it is doing all it can to stop money or aid reaching Hamas, which is at odds with Fatah, the rival Palestinian movement that holds sway in the West Bank. Egyptian authorities regularly stop Hamas officials from bringing large sums of money into Gaza.