Egypt has deported two German nationals of Egyptian origin who had been detained last month over fears they were linked to terrorism in the Sinai.

Cairo Airport authorities deported Mahmoud Amr Mohamed Ezzat Abdel Aziz, 24, on arrival in Egypt from Saudi Arabia, Egypt Independent reports.

Abdel Aziz, a student at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia, had been arrested after information was made available that he travelled in order to join Sinai Islamic terrorists.

The authorities added that since he did not commit any of the crimes stipulated by law and had waived Egyptian nationality, the authorities decided to deport him to Germany in coordination with the German embassy.

Isa El Sabbagh, from Giessen, was also repatriated on a flight to Frankfurt in coordination with the German embassy after being questioned by police.

Security officials say interrogations revealed Isa, 18, was believed to be an Islamic State follower and intended to join the group in restive northern Sinai, and is now banned from returning to Egypt. They say he’d been in contact with several IS members.

In 2014, Egypt declared a state of emergency in northern Sinai following a suicide bombing that killed 33 soldiers. The government said at the time, “the war in Sinai will last for a long time, as there are a lot of terrorists hiding in the peninsula, but this new level of attacks has put us in a new level of planning too in order to combat the terrorism there.”