CAIRO
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has enacted a law to punish those convicted of digging tunnels on the country's border with 25 years in jail.
Under the law, those convicted of "digging or assisting in digging border tunnels with the aim of communicating with foreign sides or smuggling goods, equipment or individuals" should face 25 years in prison, the maximum prison sentence in the country's judicial system.
Those found to have known about the existence or use of such tunnels and fail to report them to the authorities would face the same penalty.
Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on a network of smuggling tunnels between Sinai and the Gaza Strip for several months now.
Egypt had initially planned to create a 500-meter wide buffer zone along the border with the Palestinian territory, before deciding to expand it to a kilometer.
The clampdown brought to a halt tunnel digging activities in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt says the tunnels are used in militant activities inside Sinai.
Blockaded by Israel since 2007, Gaza used to receive much-needed supplies through the network of smuggling tunnels on its border with Sinai.
