Cairo  - Egyptian police on Thursday said they found half a tonne of explosives hidden near its Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip.

The cache had been buried underground in the town of Ahrish, some 50 kilometres west of the Rafah border crossing, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Police cordoned off the area to search for smugglers and closed the underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons and goods across the border into the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, police exchanged gunfire with fuel smugglers to the Gaza Strip. The smuggling of weapons for Palestinian militants as well as food and fuel has become commonplace in the wake of Israel's blockade on the salient. (dpa)