Tripoli, 13 May:
Egypt has announced that all containers transshipped to Libya through Egypt will be banned unless they are for the . . .[restrict]Libyan government.
The announcement, from the deputy head of the Egyptian Customs Authority, Ahmed Farag Saudi, is said to be a response to concerns about smuggling.
According to Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba, Saudi claimed that smugglers were using the lack of security in Libya to transport contraband goods, including weapons, from various places including Dubai and China, both by sea and air. When they arrived in Egypt, they were dispatched by road to Libya from where they could be smuggled elsewhere.
Saudi said that Egypt had “agreed with the Libyan customs that imported goods to Libya will only be allowed direct through the Libyan sea and air ports, and that they will not be allowed to be transported from Egypt into Libya by land except if the shipment belonged to the Libyan Government”.
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