Last update - 00:00 19/10/2007
Egypt arrests 18 Eritreans planning to sneak into Israel
By Associated Press
Egyptian police arrested a group of 18 Eritreans traveling on a tourist bus through the Sinai desert Friday on suspicions that they were intending to illegally cross into Israel, a Sinai security official said.
The Eritreans, among them a woman, were arrested after crossing the Suez Canal by ferry into the Sinai on a tourist bus, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
During questioning, the Africans admitted that they paid U.S. $300 for a middle man to take them to Sinai as tourists, where they were to meet a smuggler to help them cross the borders illegally, he added.
A flood of mostly Africans seeking employment opportunities across the border in the past year has prompted Israel to call for stricter Egyptian controls on the frontier.
Since that time, Egyptian border guards have killed or wounded several people as they tried to sneak into Israel. On Friday, a Turkish man shot by police as he tried to cross died of his wounds.
Egyptian police also arrested a 30-year-old Ethiopian woman Friday at the
border itself as she tried to cross the barbed wire dividing Egypt and Israel.
Israel estimates that 2,800 people have entered the country illegally through its border with Egypt in recent years, nearly all from Africa.