Egypt releases Israeli tourist arrested with bullets in his bag

Egyptian police on Tuesday night released an Israeli tourist some hours after he was arrested for crossing into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with bullets in his bag.

Nir Itach, 24, from the central Israeli city of Rehovot, was set free late in the night.

He was fined around $140 and banned from entering Egypt for seven days. Itach immediately headed back to Israeli territory, the report said.

Nir’s brother Almog, who traveled to the Israel-Egypt border crossing to greet his sibling, said the bullets were left by mistake in a bag from his brother’s army days.

“He took out of his closet a bag from his army days that had not been used for a while,” he told Ynet.

“I want to commend the treatment by the Foreign Ministry in helping us,” Almog said. “I felt like that the whole country was supporting us and that really strengthened us.”

Almog said that during his time in detention his bother suffered from a harsh attitude by other prisoners. “He needed to beg for water and they didn’t give him anything to eat during the whole time that he was in prison. He said it was an unpleasant experience.”

Attorneys who helped the Itach family secure Nir’s release said he had returned to his hometown of Rehovot.