Egypt Envoy in UAE after Claimed Brothers' Cell Bust

Egypt sent a top official to the UAE for talks on Wednesday, a day after reports that 10 members of a group linked to President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party were arrested there.

Essam el-Haddad, Morsi's adviser for foreign affairs and international cooperation, held talks with UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, WAM state news agency said.

"A number of issues of common interest between the two countries were discussed" in the meeting that was attended by Egypt's intelligence chief Mohamed Shehataa and a number of UAE officials, it said.

Haddad delivered a letter from Morsi to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan "about bilateral relations between the two countries and the ways to develop them in a manner that would serve the interests of the two brotherly nations," WAM said.

The visit comes a day after UAE daily al-Khaleej reported that security forces arrested more than 10 people linked to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi's party.

Members held "secret meetings" across the country and "recruited Egyptian expats in the UAE to join their ranks," the newspaper said, adding that they had collected "large amounts of money that they sent illegally to the mother organization in Egypt."

It also said they gathered secret defense information on the UAE.

No official confirmation of the report was immediately available, nor any date given for the arrests.

In Cairo, the foreign ministry said there were "ongoing efforts on this matter," without giving further details.

Dubai's police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, has repeatedly lashed out at Arab Spring uprisings, accusing leaders who came to power after the ouster of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt of plotting against Gulf monarchies.

During the past year, the United Arab Emirates announced it has broken up several cells it said were plotting against its security.