CAIRO: Egyptian security forces foiled two illegal migration attempts by 67 unregistered Egyptian and Somali migrants in one day, said the Egyptian Ministry of Interior Saturday.
A total of 25 Somalis were arrested inside a Cairo-Aswan train, and said they were seeking asylum in Egypt.
According to the initial investigations, they confessed that had illegally entered Egyptian territories through Sudan, adding that they were in their way to the Cairo Office of the UNHCR to seek asylum in Egypt. The immigrants are still in custody for further investigations.
Meanwhile, the security forces foiled an illegal emigration attempt by a group of 42 Egyptians in Nile Delta’s port city Rashid, 263 km north of Cairo, the Ministry of Interior announced in a another statement Saturday.
The emigrants were arrested in a hotel before being on board of a fishery boat, assumed to be headed to Italy.
Egypt has intervened in a number of migration attempts by hundreds of asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa, particularly from Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya, via the Mediterranean Sea to Italy or Greece.
On Sept. 27 22 Egyptians were deported from Italy, while a total of 52 Egyptians were deported by Italy for arriving illegally by sea on a fishing boat on Sept. 3; the Italian authorities also deported 28 other nationals to Cairo in June and 13 others in March.
Egyptian navy and police forces foiled Sept. 26 a migration attempt by 174 persons from 10 different nationalities in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh near the Mediterranean Sea, the Ministry of Interior office announced.
At ground western border with Libya, the Egyptian security forces foiled Friday another illegal emigration attempt to Libya by 157 Egyptian nationals along with Sallum crossing. Despite security deterioration in Libya, dozens of Egyptian and African migrants were stopped at the crossing while trying to illegally travel to Libya.