Police seized $2.3 million worth of gold on Dec. 27 while searching for militants and weapons at a checkpoint on a main road near the town of Al-Miknassi, which is close to Sidi Bouzid, a terrorist hotspot. Authorities would not say whether the gold was linked to terrorism, although the checkpoints have been set up due to fears of attacks by Islamist militants around the New Year. A Tunisian security expert warned that 300 Ansar al-Sharia “emirs” who have received weapons training in Libya are preparing to enter Tunisian territory to assume command of terrorist groups. The new emirs, said to include Libyans, Tunisians, Algerians, and Malians and to be armed with sophisticated weapons, recently swore allegiance to Ansar al Sharia. Yesterday the Interior Ministry dismissed reports that a bomb was found in the capital, and Tunisair denied social media reports that one of its planes had crashed into the sea.
