Egyptian security forces have seized supermarket chains owned by two leading figures of the Muslim Brotherhood as part of the government's crackdown against the banned organisation, judicial and security sources revealed to Reuters yesterday.

On the orders of a committee charged with identifying Brotherhood assets, the security forces have seized the Zad chain of supermarkets owned by Khairat el-Shater, as well as the Seoudi chain of Abdulrahman el-Seoudi, the sources said.

"We received an order from the committee to seize the chains, Zad and Seoudi, and we just went and took them," a security source said.

"We are currently going through the funds and goods and equipment and the reason for that is that they belong to Brotherhood leaders whose assets have been ordered to be seized," the source added.