Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt’s turbulent Sinai Peninsula has been hit by a
series of abductions in several provinces already impacted by the smuggling industry and a growing outlaw culture.

On Dec. 12, hundreds of Egyptians blocked roads with burning tires to protest the police failure to arrest abductors.

Officials have acknowledged that suspected Bedouin gangs were engaged in
abductions. They said the motive for the
kidnappings was profit amid the absence of central government control over
the peninsula.

Officials said the rapid growth of the smuggling industry in Sinai has
sparked a violent competition among Bedouin tribes. They said smugglers were
receiving hundreds of millions of dollars per year in what has transformed
traditional Bedouin society.

“There is a decision to increase law enforcement in Sinai, but there are
other areas with higher priority,” an official said.

In 2011, the military replaced the police and security forces in
imposing control over Sinai, with a population of about 400,000. The absence
of police has resulted in a huge increase in weapons smuggling as well as
the presence of Hamas, which controls the neighboring Gaza Strip.

The Sinai abductions were said to have taken place largely in the north.

  Egyptian security forces, Egyptians protest as the underworld transforms Sinai’s Bedouin culture, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, smuggling industry