Security thwarted attempts to steal 300 million EGP of audio and video records from the Radio and Television Union's building, an official said. The attempts were foiled with security systems and metal detectors. Nabil el-Tablawy, head of security at the Radio and Television Union (RTU), said in an interview that he put together a comprehensive security plan to prevent the smuggling of artistic heritage from the building. As part of the plan, an electronic chip is inserted in every tape which will set off an alarm if taken out of the building. Also, there are many video cameras and computers and watch rooms attached to the building's entrances. On the Egypt Today talk show, el-Tablawy said security officials have thwarted the attempted smuggling of 20,000 hours of rare radio records and religious programs copied onto a computer hard disk. He said the materials would be sufficient to open an independent radio station capable of broadcasting for three years without needing new material. There were two smuggling attempts last month, he said, both of which involved videos of King Farouk's wedding and funeral, a meeting of the Free Officers at the time of the 1952 revolution, and an interview of Mohamed Naguib while he was president. El-Tablawy said there was a week's interval between the attempts. El-Tablawy said security guards with high qualifications were carefully selected to guard libraries. Guards receive special training courses, as the RTU is like a separate community with over 40,000 employees. He said some materials have been cleared for transfer to other buildings for specific uses. It is also forbidden to access computers or use flash drives without permission. El-Tablawy said the security sector is not only responsible for Maspiro, the RTU building in Cairo, but for providing security for all RTU facilities nationwide, a total of 160 locations. The sector is also in charge of protecting workers, information and documents. El-Tablawy said Maspiro receives around 12,000 visitors each day in addition to its 42,000 workers. A barcode system is used to track the entry and exit time of all visitors. However, he said there is a problem regarding fire prevention in the facility. The Maspiro building was designed in 1960 without considering the problem of fire safety in its main tower. Self-extinguishing equipment was later installed inside the tower.
