21 elements of Jund Ansar Allah arrested in Alexandria, Sharqiya

Twenty-one leaders and elements of Jund Ansar Allah have been arrested in manhunt campaigns in Alexandria and Sharqiya, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Elements of the terrorist cell, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda and Ansar Beit Al Maqdes organizations, have been plotting to conduct hostile acts with the aim to shake security and stability in Egypt, the ministry said in a statement.

Jund Ansar Allah wanted to foment chaos and confusion at the security, economic, political and social levels, the statement charged.

Information provided by the National Security Sector showed that the Muslim Brotherhood was planning to carry out wide scale terrorist operations against police and military posts, as well as vital and media facilities in the country, the statement said.

The Muslim Brotherhood allied with elements of Ansar Beit Al Maqdes and Al Qaeda and formed the Jund Ansar Allah group to implement the plans, it added.

Acting on those tips, police conducted preventive security campaigns in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the Delta city of Sharqiya, arresting 21 leaders and elements of the nascent cell, the ministry said in its statement.

They admitted they had carried out 38 hostile acts, including planting explosive charges, setting cars and electrical power transformers ablaze, assassinating policemen and attempting to detonate power plants and public buses.

Two of the arrestees, Ahmed Gabr and Mohamed Abdel Meguid, had an electronic device that contained 3,200 files about plots the group intended to carry out.

The arrestees also confessed that they had received Jihadist training and learned how to use weapons and manufacture bombs.

They had rented a store in Alexandria in which they kept 52 machine guns, 5,000 bullets and several explosive charges. They also had bullet-proof vests kept in the store.

In Sharqiya, police detected two factories owned by one element of the group.

They also manufactured and kept bombs inside the two factories.

Police found 54 explosive charges and several electric circuits, as well as chemicals that go into the manufacture of bombs, inside the two factories.