By Hussein Mahmoud
CAIRO (AA) – The Egyptian army on Tuesday arrested 281 undocumented migrants of various nationalities in different places along Egypt’s borders, according to army spokesman Brig. Mohammed Samir.
“Border guards arrested 254 people of different nationalities who were attempting to enter [Egypt] in the [northern] Rashid and Abu Qir areas; 11 in the [western] Al-Salloum area; and 16 Syrians in the [southern] Shalateen region,” Samir said in a Facebook statement.
The statement did not provide the nationalities of most of those detained or their ultimate destinations.
During the months of July and August, Samir announced on eight separate occasions that his forces had arrested numerous undocumented migrants — 1,780 in total — en route to destinations in Europe.
Egypt’s coasts are among the main transit routes used by undocumented migrants from Africa and Asia hoping to make the sea journey to Europe.
Europe currently faces the largest wave of undocumented immigration since World War II due to the tremendous numbers of refugees fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
