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Egypt: Security forces arrest migration broker over deaths of 11 migrants

August 30, 2021 at 11:29 am

A picture taken on July 26, 2018 shows Egyptian policemen driving on a road leading to the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish. [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

The Egyptian security authorities on Sunday arrested a migration broker believed to have facilitated irregular migration by sea, which, according to preliminary reports, resulted in the drowning of 11 people, Anadolu Agency reported.

Egypt’s Al-Gomhuria newspaper reported that the security services in Dakahlia Governorate arrested an illegal migration broker deemed to be involved in the incident.

According to the newspaper, the defendant has helped: “11 residents of the village of Talbana in the governorate to travel by sea to Libya and from there to Italy in exchange for sums of money.”

The newspaper said a state of sadness has prevailed among the village’s residents since Friday, after receiving unofficial reports of the deaths of 11 people when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea during their trip from Libya to Italy.

Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper disclosed that dozens of families gathered on Saturday in front of the Talbana police station and filed missing persons reports after losing contact with their relatives for over a week.

The newspaper quoted unnamed security sources stating that more than 50 missing person reports had been filed and expected the number to increase.

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