Police "have delivered a successful blow against a terror cell plotting suicide bomb attacks," including a plot to attack a Western embassy which was in its final stages, Mohammed Ibrahim said at a news conference.
The minister did not identify the embassy.
Ibrahim named three people arrested by police and said they were captured with 10 kilos of chemicals that could be used to make explosives and a computer containing instructions on bomb-making.
Egypt has in the past announced the arrests of Qaeda-linked militants, including a group now on trial in Cairo.