RAFAH, Egypt: Egyptian police arrested 40 Africans, mostly Sudanese, attempting to illegally sneak into Israel, a security official said on Friday. Police on Thursday night arrested 37 Africans, including five Eritreans and four Congolese, as they crossed the Salam Bridge over the Suez Canal into the Sinai Desert demilitarized zone on buses. The remainder, like most of those seeking work and asylum in Israel, were Sudanese and included women and children. On Friday morning, three more Sudanese were caught just seven kilometers south of the Rafah border crossing, also attempting to sneak into Israel. The border has become a major transit route for mainly east European prostitutes headed to work, voluntarily or involuntarily, in Israel s lucrative flesh trade. It is also used by African migrants and asylum-seekers, as well as weapons and drugs smugglers. Just Wednesday a refugee from Sudan s war-torn Darfur region was shot and wounded by Egyptian police as he and dozens of others tried to cross into Israel. Police opened fire on the group of 30 refugees near the Rafah crossing point into the Gaza Strip after they refused to stop, the source said, adding that three others were arrested and the rest disappeared into the Egyptian desert. Those arrested said they had paid Bedouin traffickers to take them into Israel where they wanted to seek asylum. On Tuesday, police arrested another 20 Sudanese from Darfur as they tried to enter Israel. Israel said on Sunday it would return all those entering illegally from Egypt along the 250 km border between the two neighbors which are bound by a 1979 peace treaty. However, Israel also said it would consider assisting a small number of refugees from the western Sudanese region of Darfur, in the grip of civil war.
Egyptian police stop 40 Africans sneaking into Israel
