6 defendants in ‘Illegal Migration Gang’ case referred to court

CAIRO - 20 July 2019: Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadeq referred six defendants in the lawsuit publicly known as “The Illegal Migration Gang” to urgent criminal trial.

Investigations by the Public Prosecution revealed that the six defendants formed with others a criminal group for migrant smuggling and were preparing to smuggle a group of Egyptian youths to Italy, including minors.

The gang hid those young men in an apartment in Cairo’s Nozha neighborhood. The plan was transporting them to Alexandria where they would take off to Italy. The gang was paid amounts ranging between 60,000 and 65,000 by each individual for that purpose.

The defendants are charged with compromising the health of the young men by making them reside in a place that was not suitable to their number, planning to risk their lives by smuggling them in a fishing boat, and fraud for claiming they would secure them jobs in Italy.

The smuggling attempt was foiled after the first defendant has fallen. The defendants are Adel Gabr, Rezk Momtaz, Omar Makram, Hany Nashaat, Amr Hussein, Mohamed Adel, Mahmoud Hamed, Ahmed Mohamed, Osama Monazea, Nazih Beshry, Mohamed Samir, Ahmed Mahmoud, Mohamed Salah, Ramadan Atef, Ahmed Ramadan, Amer Ahmed, Abdel Hakim Amer, Kirolos Botros, Abanub Nagy, and Romany Kamal.

The Administrative Control Authority (ACA) and the Ministry of Interior collaborated to arrest 71 suspects affiliated with four gangs involved in migrant smuggling in Cairo, Giza, Beheira, Kafr al-Sheikh, and Gharbeya in February.

The defendants have been smuggling Egyptians and refugees from other countries in the region into 14 European countries, the United States, and Canada.

The gangs forged documents that are issued by local and foreign governmental institutions such as marriage contracts, birth certificates, personal financial statements, bank statements, documents issued by the civil registry, complaints filed at police departments, and court verdicts.

The purpose was to manipulate foreign governments and convey that migrants are being subject to religious and political discrimination so they would get asylum, and support by human rights organizations.

Investigations indicated that the defendants had committed bribery, and illegal currency trade as they used to receive remittances by expats in foreign currencies, and deliver the equivalent to their families in Egyptian pound.

The results of investigations were submitted to Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek who issued arrest warranties against all defendants. Several coordination meetings were held by the ACA and the ministry to prepare for the arrests that were carried out by 300 security personnel. The defendants have been interrogated by the Public Prosecution before referral to court.