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Egypt Arrests 16 Suspected Muslim Brotherhood Members


Egyptian police escorts stand by vehicles for general prisoner transport at Tora prison, Cairo, August 22, 2013.
Egyptian police escorts stand by vehicles for general prisoner transport at Tora prison, Cairo, August 22, 2013.

Egypt says police have arrested 16 suspected Muslim Brotherhood members for allegedly smuggling currency out of the country and plotting militant attacks in Egypt.

The Interior Ministry said Tuesday the suspects were collaborating with wanted Brotherhood members in Turkey to help smuggle wanted Islamists from Egypt to Europe.

It says in a statement the suspects also provided funds for Brotherhood members to carry out militant attacks in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood won a series of elections after the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. U.S.-educated engineer Mohamed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure, became Egypt's first freely-elected president the following year.

The military, led by then defense minister Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, overthrew Morsi in 2013 amid massive protests against his brief one-year rule. Authorities have since branded the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and arrested thousands of its members. Morsi collapsed in a courtroom and died in June.

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