19 Egyptian Spies Captured, Killed by Israeli Forces in Recent Weeks

A military spokesman disclosed last night that 19 Egyptian spies have been captured or killed by Israeli forces in the Sinal peninsula in recent weeks. The spokesman said that large quantities of intelligence equipment were captured. He said that of the 19, some were regular Egyptian Army personnel and the rest were Bedouins pressed into intelligence service by the Egyptians. One of the latter told his story on television last night. He said he was a fisherman from the Ghardaka region of Egypt and claimed he was forced to perform espionage on the threat of being deprived of his means of earning a living. The military spokesman said the Egyptians mounted their espionage expeditions from Ismailia in the central Suez Canal zone and from Ghardaka on the west shore of the Gulf of Suez opposite Sharm el Sheikh. He said the spying was first reported last November when an Egyptian killed in Western Sinai was found to be carrying espionage equipment. Subsequently, another member of the same unit was captured alive and a short while afterwards two spies were killed in a boat in the Gulf of Suez. An espionage gang was captured this week near Sharm el Sheikh and four Bedouins spying for the Egyptians were captured in the same area, the spokesman said. He released photographs of captured boats and equipment.