Egypt arrests Hamas security official

The Egyptian police have arrested a senior security official of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas upon his arrival from Syria.

The head of the Hamas-run General Security Service was arrested at Cairo airport, the Egyptian media reported on Monday.

“Mohammed Khamis Dababesh was arrested late last week,” reported the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper.

Egyptian authorities claimed that the Hamas official was detained for using falsified travel documents.

The paper also reports, however, that Dababesh is “suspected of involvement in activities harmful to Egyptian state security, including an attempt to traffic a significant quantity of sophisticated telecommunications equipment.”

A number of Hamas officials have been detained in Egypt after an Egyptian soldier was killed in a border shooting earlier this year.