Egypt's National Security Service has foiled a planned attack against a foreign vessel in the Suez Canal.

The service's officers detained two suspects - residents of the Ismailia Governorate, the MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.

One of them planned to organize an attack on a vessel passing through the canal from a land plot he owned on the coast, says the report cited by RIA Novosti.

No details of the preparation for the attack were immediately available. The agency said the suspects intended to "inflict damage upon the state's economy."

The Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea is a key source of funding for Egypt's budget. The North African country receives some EUR 5 B annually on average in levies for the passage of vessels.

Despite political instability in Egypt since the Hosni Mubarak regime was deposed in February 2011, the canal has operated normally. Some 50 ships pass through the canal daily.