Cairo – Egyptian police have uncovered a gang of beggars that raped and killed several homeless children, the official al- Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The suspects have admitted to murders in several governorates.
So far the police have found two bodies and are looking for more.
The investigation began when a group of homeless children filed a complaint that one of their colleagues, a 15-year-old, had disappeared. A search team was formed and his body was found in a desolate area in Tanta, north of Cairo. One suspect was arrested.
The suspect admitted that he was a member of a gang of beggars who lured homeless children, raped them and then killed them. Four members of the gang were subsequently arrested.
The gang confessed that one year ago they lured a child on the Alexandria train to a tunnel in the suburb of Shoubra al-Kheima, raped him and then killed him. Police checked the tunnel and found the remains of a boy.
The gang also confessed to throwing a teenager in front of a train.
The number of victims remains unclear and police are still searching for other suspects.
While this kind of stuff probably happens everywhere, I’m always surprised when it happens in Egypt.
I think, your last sentence needs some more explanation. I gues you guys in Egypt are the same human beings as everyone else, with all the strenghts and weaknesses. Where this attitude, that you are more moral or whatever comes from??
What I meant is that Egypt, generally speaking, is such a safe country (especially for petty crimes, which tend to be fairly common in the West or even a place like Morocco). Despite Cairo being one of the biggest cities in the world the crime rate, including violent crime rate, is low. Things do happen (as newspapers’ crime pages often relate) but you don’t get the feeling of having to be careful all the time you might get in, say, pre-Giulani New York. I did not mean to say that Egyptians are somehow more moral than other people.
This kind of rape-and-kill is no news in Egypt. Still, the serial killing, the gangsterism, the psychologic element are just what Issandr describes as disturbing. Exotic, yes. But given the relative newness of street children phenomenon, its association with substance addiction – most famously glue, and the mounting police brutality, we should’ve anticipated the emergence of a unique breed of criminals.
If this is a new breed of criminals, then there is also a new breed of street children. Street children in Egypt know better than going to the police station to file a complaint, because they are afraid of the police. I do not think the story is strange, if true. It is just that this bit of filing a report sounds too far fetched to me.
I dont understand where is the police when all this is happening on the street? If more than one child is killed there is a serial killer out there and not necessarily those killer will killed homeless children they might attack on other children too. So the police and people have to be aware of what is going around them in order to stop this group of killers from killing more innocent children especially those homeless children. Egyptian police are not doing their job which is cathing the criminals and making sure the street is safe but instead used their power to catch bloggers and innocent people. The Egyptian media also have to play a big role in providing information and public awareness of the crimes on the street. I found only Al-Wadf newspaper did so but not other newspapers. Watch out, there are serial killers/rapist out there and we have to stop them before it is too late.