The Customs Division of the United Arab Republic disclaims responsibility for any losses caused by the detention of the Danish freighter, Inge Toft, at the entrance to the Suez Canal, according to dispatches received here today from Cairo.
The Inge Toft, halted by the Egyptian authorities as it attempted to pass through the Suez Canal with an Israeli cargo consigned to the Far East, is still in dock at Port Said, where the captain of the vessel refuses to unload the cargo. The captain of the ship received renewed instructions from the Mediterranean Agency, Inc., of New York–the firm to which the ship is chartered – – ordering him not to leave Port Said without the cargo. An Egyptian “War Prize Court” at Alexandria has declared the cargo a “war prize.”
The Egyptian authorities insist that any losses incurred by the ship are solely the responsibility of the skipper. The U. A. R.’s deputy foreign minister, Aly Sabry, was quoted in dispatches to London today to the effect that his government is determined not to allow any Israeli cargoes through the Canal. Mr. Sabry reiterated his government’s contention that Egypt is still “at war” with Israel, and that anything strengthening Israel’s economy is “a threat to the U. A. R.”
Meanwhile, today, the Cairo Radio tied Jordan and Israel with an alleged new “plot” against the U.A.R., in connection with the closing of the Syrian-Jordanian border. Cairo Radio claims that these “aggressions” were timed to coincide with Israel’s diplomatic offensive over the Inge Toft incident.
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