"More dangerous than war with the enemy" — with these words, engineer Ahmed Habib, a member of the Egyptian Jewelers Association, described the battles Egypt is waging against illegal gold prospectors in the southern governorates, known as "Al-Dahaba", who have returned to the spotlight.

The Egyptian Armed Forces recently announced details of the discovery of large numbers of Egyptians and Africans who are randomly prospecting for gold in mountainous areas without any coordination with state agencies, especially in the areas extending from Qusair and Marsa Alam to the southern borders.

These areas are currently witnessing, from the Red Sea governorate in the east to Halayeb and Shalateen in the south, and the adjacent mountainous areas, an intense deployment of fixed and mobile security ambushes to apprehend "Al-Dahaba", while security agencies continue their operations, which have resulted in a number of surprises.

Ahmed Habib said in exclusive remarks to Sky News Arabia that the state's battle against "Al-Dahaba" is no less important than military battles, because they are destroying all of Egypt's efforts to attract global companies to invest in the gold sector, and smuggling everything they find abroad.

He added: "These groups operate outside the law and illegally, and their members extract raw gold away from the eyes of state agencies, which puts the Egyptian government facing dangers on multiple levels: environmental, economic, and security, in addition to the risks of smuggling Africans and gold."

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Cross-border smuggling routes

The member of the Egyptian Jewelers Association said that the profession of 'Dahaba' is closely linked to cross-border smuggling routes, as it is not limited to smuggling quantities of gold discovered in illegal smuggling areas, but also extends to smuggling African nationals to participate in prospecting.

He continued: "The danger of Al-Dahaba extends to threatening the state's development and investment plans, as the depletion of wealth in Egypt's mountains deprives other sectors of generating productive projects that could later yield economic returns, in addition to a large number of job opportunities, all of which benefit specific gangs."

Habib praised the role of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior in confronting these organized gangs, which have come to control entire mountainous areas and use smuggled people from neighboring countries for guard duty and prospecting, thinking that they represent a parallel shadow government.

For his part, Mahmoud Othman, a geologist and inspector of mines in Marsa Alam at the Mineral Resources and Mining Industries Authority, said that those engaged in the profession of 'Dahaba' prospect for raw gold outside the law, which directly affects the country's security and economy, in addition to leaving serious environmental impacts.

He pointed out, in his remarks to Sky News Arabia, that random prospecting operations disfigure mining areas and affect their geological nature, especially since these areas often have a special nature: they are rugged mountainous or desert, making monitoring and follow-up very difficult.

He added: "These operations deprive the state of benefiting from its resources at a time when the government is working to attract more global investments in the mining sector, especially gold, and thus it wastes significant investment opportunities and affects the confidence of major companies in the Egyptian mining sector."

Battles and Mass Killing

A security source at the Egyptian Ministry of Interior revealed the evolution of 'Dahaba' operations from prospecting to crime, as the mountainous area of Umm al-Huwaitat, south of Safaga in the Red Sea, witnessed fierce battles between two groups of prospectors during last May, in which firearms were used.

He indicated, in his remarks to Sky News Arabia, that these battles resulted in the deaths of 8 people, including 5 from the 'Ashraf al-Gharbiya' tribe, while security forces arrested those who opened fire on the prospectors, noting that the dispute was over priority to prospect in the area.

The security source confirmed that the profession of 'Al-Dahaba' reveals the existence of a criminal system with its own interests and rules, which currently places it under the scrutiny of security agencies and the Armed Forces, who are monitoring all movements and besieging these groups, because the activity is linked to many crimes.

He added: "There are security crimes including illegal prospecting, human and gold smuggling, in addition to possessing unlicensed weapons and battles that have killed a number of people, besides economic crimes, the most important of which is obstructing investments and exploiting resources outside the law."

He pointed out that 'Al-Dahaba' are also spreading in the mountainous areas of Aswan Governorate, where they have turned into organized gangs that use some people coming from African countries, and at the same time try to win over young people from families and tribes in the governorate to ensure that these families do not report them.

It is noteworthy that the residents of Aswan Governorate are facing a fuel shortage crisis due to the 'Al-Dahaba' gangs, as they obtain huge quantities of diesel fuel, in addition to butane gas cylinders and quantities of other petroleum products, to operate gold mills and their vehicles in the mountains.