El-ARISH - Egyptian police arrested five Ethiopians attempting to cross the country's Sinai peninsula border with Israel on Friday morning, according to a security source. Police fired warning shots into the air when they spotted the group - three men and two women - then arrested them. The group said they had paid a gang of smugglers 1,000 US dollars each to help them reach Israel, where they hoped to find work. The five detainees are being held in El-Arish prison, and the Ethiopian embassy in Egypt have been notified of their case. African migrants regularly try to enter Israel illegally, often to find work. In many cases, police open fire on them, though human rights groups have sharply criticized the growing number of fatalities. Earlier this month, eight African migrants were killed after they clashed with the traffickers. One of the migrants seized a weapon from the smugglers in a bid to escape after they demanded 2,000 dollars from each migrant instead of 1,000 dollars to let them cross into Israel.
