Middle Eastern media is reporting that Egyptian security officials have accused members of the Muslim Brotherhood of participating in a plot to buy fuel and electronic guidance devices for miniature drone aircraft to be used by Hamas. According to one report:
Egyptian security forces detained four people and have accused them of plotting to buy fuel for a pilotless aircraft for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, security sources said on Saturday. The sources said two of those detained were members of Egypt’s opposition Muslim Brotherhood. They said the two men had given 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,700) to two other Egyptians to buy fuel and a remote control device for a small aircraft. The sources said the small aircraft was meant to be loaded with explosives for an attack. They did not say what the target would have been. Mohammad Mursi, a member of the Brotherhood’s governing Guidance Office, said the accusations were “completely baseless” and denied any Brotherhood involvement in such a plan.
Another report identified Dr. Abd Al-Hai Al-Farmawi, head of the Koran commentary faculty and lecturer at Al-Azhar and senior Muslim Brotherhood official, as one of the inidviduals arrested in the affair. Although the organization is under tight control by the Egyptian state, recent years have seen the increasing presence of Muslim Brotherhood students at Al-Azhar.
This is not the first time that the Egyptian Brotherhood has been reported to be in contact with Hamas. In January, an Israeli TV station has reported that Muslim Brotherhood “representatives” traveled to Gaza from Egypt through the open border to meet with Hamas. An earlier media report indicated that shortly after Hamas took over the Gaza strip, Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present to review Hamas military formations.