I agree with this. Like OP I also flew to LHR from Cairo yesterday, and there was no suggestion of any sort of bribery/corruption that I noticed. If anything the security checks seemed a bit lax - no question of the trouser belt buckle or shoes being a problem walking through the machine as they might have been at LHR, JFK.

It was my first time departing CAI and I could probably list 100 reasons why it wasn't much fun (the airport is a tip, the lounge is awful and tiny etc. etc.) but corrupt officialdom wasn't a problem for me. Perhaps if OP hadn't half-inched the contents of his hotel room.....