SINAI - Around 16 African migrants were arrested in two separate incidents in the Sinai Peninsula heading to the border with Israel to try and cross it illegally, according to an Egyptian police official. "We have arrested five Eritreans, five Sudanese and six Ethiopians who said they paid $1,000 each for human traffickers," the official said. He added that they were caught on pickup trucks belonging to Bedouin traffickers near the town of Nekhil, about 400kms east of Cairo. Egyptian police patrolling the area south of the Israel border in the central Sinai Peninsula reportedly detained 34 migrants from Eretria, Sudan, and Ethiopia on Friday while they were also trying to illegally cross into Israel. Meanwhile, another Egyptian security official slammed as baseless a report published by an Israeli newspaper quoting human rights groups in Israel as saying that African migrants are tortured, rapped and stolen by Bedouin, who help them cross into Israel. "Egyptian police never tolerate such crimes. We have police regualer campaigns to control borders and to nab migrants," the official was quoted by dpa as saying.