Egypt police arrested trying to smuggle in family

Two Egyptian police have been charged with taking money from a Gazan family with the false promise of allowing them into Egypt from the isolated enclave, a security source told AFP on Tuesday.The two policemen offered via a middleman to let the Palestinian family into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only one to bypass Israel, in exchange for 5,000 dollars, the official said.

The family handed the money over but when they reached Rafah, which has been almost continuously closed since the Islamist Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the promised documents allowing them in were not there.

The family told the Egyptian authorities, leading to the arrest of the two policemen, who now face trial in a military tribunal for corruption.

 

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