Egypt: Divers Caught Cutting Internet Cable
March 29th, 2013Via: Global Post:
Egypt’s naval forces caught three scuba divers officials say were trying to cut an undersea internet cable in the Mediterranean on Wednesday.
In a statement on his official Facebook page, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said divers were arrested while “cutting the undersea cable” of Egypt’s main communications company, Telecom Egypt.
“The armed forces foiled an attempt and arrested three divers while they were cutting a submarine cable,” Ali wrote.
The statement, accompanied by a photo of three young men who were apparently Egyptian, said they were captured while on a speeding fishing boat just off the coast of Alexandria. It did not say who they were or why they would want to cut the cable.
Egypt’s internet had been spotty for days, following damage to an undersea cable last week. But after the arrest of three men who allegedly used diving equipment to cut yet another line off the coast of Alexandria, there is speculation that what was initially billed an accident may have been part of a wider plan to take Egypt offline.
According to Agence France-Presse and local press reports, the men have denied the accusations.
They say they were salvaging shipwrecks. Alexandria’s security director is quoted by the official state news agency as saying they severed the cable by mistake.
