Internet-surfing Egyptian police have in recent months become more aggressive in going online to entrap gay men, according to the Associated Press.

The police have been masquerading as gay men seeking partners and placing ads on sites that cater to gay Egyptians. Men who respond to the ads have been subsequently arrested.

Gen. Abdel-Wahab el-Adly, the Egyptian police official in charge of vice said: "The new millennium came with unexpected changes in the use of technology in committing crimes. We had to respond."

"We got 19 cases this way," el-Adly told the news agency.

"It was great arresting them."

"We are dealing with a different type of criminal and the spread of new crimes," added Gen. Ahmed Shehab, who handles information technology for the police ministry.

"This requires security and technical expertise to be able to patrol the Internet the same way we patrol Egyptian streets."

A web site catering to Egyptian gays warns readers about the perils of being gay in Egypt.

"Guess who's watching? Egyptian state security. Try to avoid always logging on from the same location," gayegypt.com warns.

Another warning at the bottom of the homepage reads: "Warning: Gay sex or any homosexual activity in Egypt puts you at risk of arrest, deportation or imprisonment and any sexual encounter is undertaken at your own risk."

Human rights advocates say Egypt is simply using new technology in an old campaign against freedoms.

"We are for personal freedom as long as it doesn't cross the red line of public morals," said el-Adly. Statements violating Egypt's "religious and ethical values" won't be tolerated, he said.

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The Egyptian police, in recent months, arrested a Web designer who posted a poem deemed politically suspect and a student who spreading warnings via e-mail about a serial killer in Cairo, which officials said were false.

International human rights groups have also accused the police of entrapping and persecuting gays.

Although homosexuality is not explicitly referred to in the Egyptian penal code, gays have been persecuted with a range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and debauchery.

During the infamous "Queen Boat" trial last November, an Egyptian court sent 23 men to jail for one to five years on charges including "practising sexual immorality", a local euphemism for homosexuality. Another 29 were acquitted.

Since then, more men have been quietly detained in Egypt, accused of being gay while others have been convicted and jailed.

While the witch-hunt is on for gay men, lesbians are reportedly virtually invisible in Egypt. Gay activists told media groups that they were not in contact with any lesbian groups and that the concept of two women having sexual relations was incomprehensible to most Egyptians.

It is a mystery what prompted the string of arrests after so many years of unofficial tolerance although some cite an attempt to divert attention from a battered economy while others say Egypt's gay community was becoming too organised, too vocal and most of all, too visible.