Three men are arrested near the p0rt
0f Alexandria f0r apparently attempting t0 sever an underwater internet cable
int0 Egypt.
Egypt's naval f0rces
have captured three scuba divers wh0 were trying t0 cut an undersea internet
cable in the Mediterranean, a military sp0kesman said.
A patr0l st0pped a fishing vessel near the p0rt city 0f
Alexandria and arrested the three divers as they attempted t0 cut the cable bel0nging
t0 the c0untry's main c0mmunicati0ns c0mpany, Telec0m Egypt.
In a statement, military sp0kesman C0l0nel Ahmed M0hammed
Ali said: "The armed f0rces f0iled an attempt and arrested three divers
while they were cutting a submarine cable."
It did n0t give further details 0n why the men were
trying t0 sever the cable.
It c0mes as telec0mmunicati0ns executives blamed a week-l0ng
internet sl0wd0wn 0n damage caused t0 an0ther cable by a ship.
Services in Egypt have been disrupted since March 22 and
Telec0m Egypt executive manager M0hammed el Nawawi t0ld private TV channel CBC
the netw0rk w0uld be rest0red 0n Thursday.
It said 0ne 0f its cables had been cut 750m 0ff the c0ast
in a rep0rt 0n state news agency MENA.
There was evidence 0f sl0w internet c0nnecti0ns as far
away as Pakistan and India, acc0rding t0 a netw0rk security firm which studies
web traffic.
Cables in the Mediterranean link Egypt with the Middle
East, Italy and France.
Jim C0wie, chief techn0l0gy 0fficer 0f US-based Renesys,
said a cut cable can cause data t0 bec0me c0ngested and fl0w the l0ng way ar0und
the w0rld.
In 2008, seri0us undersea cable cuts caused widespread
internet 0utages acr0ss the Middle East 0n tw0 separate 0ccasi0ns.
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