In the depth of southern Sinai, units of border guards moved in at dawn on Sunday to raid a number of hashish and poppy plantations at Nabi Saleh village near St Catherine's Monastery. Units from the Second and Third Armies and the air force participated in the campaign along with police units from the Central Security Forces. Suspected areas are closely inspected at all times in order that drug cultivation be discovered at an early stage. Meanwhile, the main routes leading out of Sinai are placed under tight control in order to foil any smuggling attempt to the Nile Valley, the main consuming area.
Raiders benefit from the scarcity of water resources in summer.
This is the beginning of the cycle of cultivating hashish and it has not fully grown yet. As a result, the discovered hashish and poppy plantations are fairly small and spread out over difficult mountain terrain. Plants were uprooted and heaped in stacks on one side and then set on fire. Wells dug beside the plantations were either destroyed or filled with sand. Trained dogs accompanied the troops to help them search for any drugs that might be buried in the mountains.