Mohammed Dababish's relatives said he was returning from
a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia when he was stopped.
Dababish is a top official in Hamas' internal security
unit, which oversees intelligence matters in Gaza. Hamas officials declined to
comment.
Egypt has arrested a string of Hamas figures since one of
its soldiers was killed in a border shooting early this year, including the son
of a Hamas Cabinet minister last month.
Egypt believes a Hamas sniper was responsible for the
shooting.
Dababish's name was on a wanted list for using falsified
travel documents to enter and leave the country, the officials said.
He was also questioned about an illegal shipment of
walkie-talkies interdicted by police in Sinai apparently destined for Gaza,
they added.
Egyptian security forces are on high alert in the Sinai
Peninsula bordering Gaza and Israel because of information about possible
Palestinian rocket attack from Egypt toward Israel.
Egyptian officials have blamed Hamas for a deadly rocket
attack last month on Israel and Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba that killed one
person and wounded four. Hamas has denied the accusations.
Egypt is also investigating reports of plans to smuggle
rockets from Gaza into Egypt and then launch them back toward Israel, said
officials. So far, no rockets have turned up.
The
officials say hundreds of police and private agents been deployed along the
border, at entry points to Sinai and along checkpoints.
