By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Egyptian border police have arrested five Chinese men who were trying to cross illegally into the Gaza Strip, security officials said Friday.
The five men in their 20's were arrested in Wadi el-Hashad, a desert area south of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, at dawn on Thursday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the press.
The officials gave no details about the Chinese detainees' purposes or how they were arrested.
Migrants seeking work in Israel are often arrested along Egypt's northeastern border. So too are smugglers trying to take drugs and other goods across the frontier.
The Chinese are being held in a police station in the northeastern town of el-Arish, about 50 kilometers west of the Gaza border, the officials said. They are expected to be charged with trying to cross the frontier illegally. If convicted, they are likely to be deported home.