Egypt: 2 Israelis, Ukrainian get life terms
Mar 13, 2012, 3:55 PM
CAIRO (AP) – State media report an Egyptian court has sentenced two Israeli Arabs and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment after convicting them of smuggling weapons into Egypt through a border crossing.
The verdict by a criminal court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia was released by state media on Tuesday.
Two of the three were arrested in November. One was tried in absentia.
A prosecution statement then said an Israeli Arab resident of Eilat, Moaz Zahalka, arrived at the Israel-Egypt border crossing at Taba, carrying a wooden box shaped like a cross. Officials found an automatic rifle and ammunition in the box.
The statement said Zahalka, a tour agent, confessed he had two accomplices_ a Ukrainian living in Sinai who had asked another Israeli Arab to send him the weapon.
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