TERRORISTS IN CAIRO

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 160, 19 April 1949, Page 6

TERRORISTS IN CAIRO

Police Force Strengthened

SECRET SOCIETIES DISCOVERED (From Reuter’s Correspondent). CAIRO. The Cairo Police Commandant has fitted patrol cars with twoway radio to help his fiying-squad in their drive against spreading political terrorism in Egypt. He has placed the entire police force in permanent “Hala G.im” or third degree state of alert.

Following the murder of the Prime Minister, Nolcrashy Paslia, and Police Commandant, Zaki Pasha, the Egyptian Public Security authorities claim to have discovered several secret societies whose aim is to overthrow the present regime in this country They have unearthed a series of plots against the state, including a “March on Cairo” attributed to a section of the Moslem Brotherhood Association, which went, underground following the outlawing of that organisation for internal security reasons three months ago. Big arms dumps, jeeps loaded with high explosives, and tons of seditious literature have been discovered. Extensive searches of houses, clubs and other premises have led to the discovery of documents, maps and correspondence implicating army officers and young men, said to have been connected with the violent incidents in Cairo during recent months. Among those arrested is Field Marshall Masry Pasha, former Inspector General of the Egyptian Army. , The authorities suspect that Communist agitators are operating under the cloak of extreme Right-Wing organisations, and investigations are now being intensified in this direction Security precautions have been increased throughout the country. No unauthorised person is allowed access to the Presidency, or to the Ministry

of the Interior, where Nokrashy Pasha was assassinated six weeks ago. Barbed wire entanglements have been erected round key ministries and public buildings. Guards have been strengthened at Government officials’ houses and the eight-mile road to Maadi, peaceful garden suburb where the new Prime Minister, Hady Pasha, lives, is being patrolled night and day. i Police say that three attempts on the life of Premier Hady Pasha have been baulked since he succeeded Nolc--1 rashy Pasha. Numerous plans for hand grenade attacks on Government premises, foreign embassies, and hanks and business concerns have also been discovered in 1 time. But at its present low strength of 400 officers and 6000 men for the twentieth largest city in the world, with a population of. nearly two million, Cairo City Police admittedly has a difficult task in coping with what the Press describes as “highly organised underground networks.” The task of fighting terrorism is not eased by the fact that the gangsters occasionally disguise themselves as army or police officers, and travel in stolen private ears or police jeeps. The public has been asked to co-operate fully. Large sums are being awarded to those who are instrumental in the arrest of terrorists, or avert outrages.