Military experts predict Egyptian prisoner exchange deal

Israel may take immediate steps toward prisoner release Cairo – Akram Ali A number of military experts in Cairo have proposed that Egypt exchange the Israeli man detained in Sinai on Friday with a number of Egyptians imprisoned in Israel, in a similar tactic to Egypt’s retrieval of 63 Egyptians in return for Ilan Chaim Grapel.
Military expert Mohammed Qadri Saeid told Arabstoday that, if investigations prove that the Israeli detainee is implicated in acts of espionage pertinent to national security, he would be deemed a spy and receive a stringent sentence. Saeid predicted that Israel will offer a prisoner exchange deal as it has previous done.
Another expert, Talaat Abu Muslim, told Arabstoday: “Tel Aviv is awaiting the result of the interrogation to decide whether or not it will offer an exchange.” If investigations prove that he is implicated in espionage, Abu Muslim said, Israel will take immediate steps toward his release.
Informed military sources have said that security authorities are still interrogating the former sergeant in the Israeli army who entered the Taba area in South Sinai illegally through the Egyptian-Israeli border near the international border markers on Saturday. The sources reported the detainee’s name as Andre Yaacoub, saying that he was arrested after he was found not to possess any documents or permits allowing him to enter the country. “As soon as he the illegal entrant was apprehended and his Israeli nationality confirmed, he was referred to a specialised security agency for questioning,” the sources said, adding “the results of the questioning have not yet materialised.”
A source in Homeland Security who did not reveal his name told Arabstoday that a top state agency was conducting the questioning of Yaacoub in order to gain information about the reason behind his entering the country illegally. Security sources in Sinai have reported that the 24-year-old was gathering information about Sinai from drivers in the area near the Taba border crossing between Egypt and Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Monday that the man was arrested Friday. The ministry gave the young man’s name as Andre Pshenichnikov (25) from Bat Yam, south of Jerusalem. Yedioth Ahronoth reported the ministry as noting that the full cause of the arrest was yet unknown.