CBNNews.com - According to the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily, the Egyptian government has ordered its security forces to search out and seal smuggling tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip.

In a detailed report, the article claimed Palestinian smugglers began digging new tunnels and shoring up others while Egyptian authorities were dealing with tens of thousands of Palestinians entering Egypt through the breached border.

The article says tunnels are begun on the Gaza side of the border and are dug in a serpentine manner to make them harder to detect. Some of them have more than one entrance and exit.

According to the paper, Egypt has been gathering intelligence information on the smuggling tunnels and those using them.

In the past year, Egypt claims to have uncovered 11 tunnels, one that's supposed to have been 745 miles long and 56 feet deep.

Many of the tunnels open up into people's homes.

"It's hard to uncover tunnels located inside houses in Egyptian Rafah and lead to Palestinian Rafah because they're hidden inside closets, kitchens and even bathrooms," said one Egyptian security official in the article.

Sources: YNet news service, The Jerusalem Post