CAIRO: Egypt will found a court specialized in human trafficking and illegal immigration, Justice Minister Ahmed el-Zend announced Friday during a meeting with William Lacy, head of the International Organization for Migration.
The Egyptian authorities routinely foil the attempts of migrants from Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Syria and Iraq to migrate illegally to Europe, but no certain numbers are available about how many are able to successfully slip under the radar.
Italy has deported hundreds of Egyptians for illegally arriving in its territories in fishing boats over the past months.
Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram said Tuesday that a boat smuggling 560 Egyptian children had arrived at Italian coasts; most of the children are less than 11 years old.
Earlier in October, the owner of a fishing boat was arrested after 10 Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers drowned after his boat sank. The boat had 35 migrants on while heading to Italy from the Delta’s Kafr el-Sheikh.
In an Oct. 13 statement, military spokesperson Mohamed Samir reported that 2,215 people were arrested in illegal immigration attempts in September, both in cities on the Mediterranean and at the Egyptian-Libya borders.