Arms worth $250,000,000 are going to Egypt from Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union and Hungary in three distinct routes, it was reported here today.
Russian experts attached to the Czech Ministry of Defense have organized the shipments which consist chiefly of Czech weapons and include tanks, heavy artillery, anti-aircraft guns, planes including Soviet-type MIG’s and armored cars, the report says.
It added that weapons are shipped by Danube barges from Czechoslovakia through Austria and to the Yugoslav port of Fiume where they are loaded on Yugoslav freighters for Egyptian ports. Other shipments are carried by Polish and Russian freighters and even by Bulgarian ships operating in the Black Sea. A shipment of 480 tons of machine guns and ammunition was said to have originated in Hungary.
Meanwhile, some 200 Czech “tourists” have arrived in Cairo and have even spread out to Lebanon, Syria and Libya. Despite the fact that each “tourist” carries a new passport none of them speak Czech, the report said.
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