A report to be released by the United Nations will shed renewed light on Egypt’s role as the trans-shipment point for North Korean weapons throughout North Africa and the Middle East and, it is anticipated, increase pressure on Cairo to curb the trade.

The UN has been looking into a North Korean freighter that was intercepted off the coast of Egypt in 2016 and found to be carrying 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades, with an estimated value of £18.84 million, concealed beneath a cargo of iron ore, The New York Times reported.

The UN study, which is due to be published before the end of the month, states that the weapons were bound for the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation, Egypt’s main state weapons conglomerate.

That organisation is overseen by Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, and the implication is that Cairo only acted to intercept the vessel because the US had been tracking the shipment and made it clear to the Egyptian authorities that the cargo was in violation of UN sanctions.

In a move that may not have been a coincidence, the US either cut or suspended military assistance to Egypt worth £211 million in August, firing a shot across Mr Sisi’s bows on future dealings with Pyongyang.