Egypt arrests 25 illegal immigrants

Published on Sunday 24th August 2008

Cairo: Egyptian border guards on Sunday arrested 25 illegal immigrants who were trying to cross into Israel via the Egyptian border in central Sinai, the official MENA news agency reported.

The group of Eritreans, including five women, confessed that some people had promised to help them sneak into Israel in return for money.

Egypt's eastern border in the Sinai peninsula is the scene of frequent attempts by illegal immigrants of different nationalities to cross into Israel for work or smuggling.

In the past months, Egyptian border guards have detained hundreds of infiltrators and even shot dead several of them in a bid to stop illegal immigrants to sneak into Israel via the Sinai peninsula.

Meanwhile, at least two Egyptian policemen were also killed during shootouts against human traffickers on the border with Israel.