JERUSALEM: Israeli police said on Thursday they have arrested two men suspected of running a ring that abducted and swindled African refugees in Egypt seeking to illegally enter Israel.
The two Eritreans, aged 34 and 41, allegedly used a network of informers and an Egyptian gang to catch the refugees, most of them from Eritrea, trying to enter Israel from the Sinai desert, police said.
According to a police statement, the abducted refugees were held in appalling conditions in tents in the heart of the desert and were subjected to awful abuse and torture.
They were forced to contact relatives and friends in Israel or their country of origin in order to raise ransom for their release and transfer into Israel, police said.
Investigators seized $150,000 in cash in the Jerusalem apartments of the suspects, who were brought before a court on Thursday.
The Israel-Egypt border has become a major transit route for migrants, asylum-seekers and drug smugglers, and Israel has asked Egypt to clamp down on the traffic.
Israel has struggled to put a lid on the influx of human traffic, and earlier this month Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the construction of a barrier along the 250-km desert frontier in a bid to halt infiltration.
According to the interior ministry, some 300,000 illegal aliens – including 100,000 migrants, tourists who overstayed their visit and Palestinians – live in Israel which is home to seven million people. -AFP
