Italy deported 55 undocumented Egyptian migrants who were arrested on the Italian coast last week to Egypt on Friday.
Security sources at Cairo International Airport said on Friday that the deportees were transported at the expense of the European Union on an Egyptian plane coming from Catania City in Italy. Fifty security personnel accompanied the detainees, who had been interrogated to ascertain their identities.
Investigations showed that the migrants set sale a week ago on board a fishing boat captained by smugglers who had charged them large sums of money.
Most Egyptian migrants attempt to reach Italy by sailing from the Libyan coast in small boats that are not fit to travel the distance between the two countries. Along with Egyptians, other Arabs and Africans are often caught trying to migrate to Italy in search of job opportunities.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
