CAIRO: Egyptian customs have stopped a Centamin shipment of gold held at Cairo airport from being exported because it did not obtain approval from the ministry of petroleum, a customs official told the state news agency MENA on Wednesday.

"The Customs Authority has not allowed Centamin Egypt to export a gold shipment extracted from Sukari mine because it did not obtain an export permit from the ministry of petroleum," the official told MENA.

The customs authority was not immediately available for comment.

MENA cited online sites as saying Centamin has filed a complaint to Egypt's prime minister against what it called "the intransigence of officials at the customs authority" and that the shipment has been blocked from being exported since Dec. 18. (Reuters)