Southern cleanup sequel
Nekheila was "out of control". The Interior Ministry is trying to avoid a repeat performance, reports
Reem Nafie
In the aftermath of the weeklong battle between police forces and a drugs and arms trafficking gang in Nekheila, an island in Assiut some 320 kilometres south of Cairo, 21 people have been arrested and charged with felonies including kidnapping and murder.
Notorious gang leader Hamed Ezzat had been running his drugs and weapons business from the island, which Ezzat's clan, Awlad Hanafi, had basically controlled for more than three decades. Following a siege of Ezzat's house -- involving nearly 100 hostages -- Ezzat was arrested, and 300 feddans of drugs confiscated.
Nine of the 21 suspects have been charged with kidnapping, arms dealing, cultivating and dealing drugs, and disrupting traffic. Most members of this group are Ezzat's cousins. The remaining 12 detainees have been charged with possession of unlicensed arms and resisting arrest. This group, police said, were not related to Ezzat, but had sought refuge with him when the police siege began.
As police continue to search out other accomplices, Ezzat was defiant. Interviewed by Egyptian television, he said he had "surrendered without a weapon on him". The drugs that were found around his house, he said, "could be anyone's", and not his in particular. Ezzat also explained that the watchtowers surrounding his fortress-like house were there to protect him from a rival clan, the Sibak, "who could kill me at any time if I am not careful".
As police forces advanced upon him last week, Ezzat attempted to commit suicide by drinking rat poison. Under arrest, he soon recovered and was moved from Assiut Hospital to Assiut Jail.
Interior Minister Habib El-Adli told reporters last Sunday that the plan to storm the island had been in the works for the past six months. He said that although the ministry had been aware of the Awlad Hanafi clan's illicit actions since as far back as 1959, the government had other priorities. "When I was first appointed minister, my priority was to eradicate terrorism." His ministry had successfully done so, El-Adli said, with the final remaining terror cells captured in Minya last year.
The minister said he was aware of the corruption that had helped the Awald Hanafi clan consolidate its power in Nekheila. "Those who were involved have been identified and dealt with," El-Adli said. "Several high- ranking police officers will be tried on charges of treason."
Meanwhile, the ministry's attention is turning to other southern villages that have been overtaken by gangs. "Naga' Abdel-Rasul is next," El-Adli said.
Although illicit activity has also become rampant in Naga' Abdel-Rasoul, an island 40 kilometres north of Nekheila, a police source told Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity that "we are not expecting a fight like the one in Nekheila. These people are expecting us." In fact, the island's residents had already begun dumping their drugs into the Nile. "We are just making sure this area is safe and clean. It's more of an authoritative presence than anything else," the police source said.
