JEDDAH — Officials of the Passport Department rounded up more than 50 violators of residence and labor regulations in late-night operations in two working class neighborhoods of Jeddah yesterday.
The arrested included those who forged iqamas (residence permits), health cards and other official documents. The officials also arrested Filipino, Syrian and Chadian nationals who were living in the Kingdom legally but were employing or sheltering illegal residents. Housemaids that had run away from their sponsors were among those arrested.
Immigration officials carried out the operations in the Nuzlah and Faisaliah districts after midnight because most of the violators preferred to work in the night for fear of detection during the daytime.
The officials raided a number of illegally run car workshops, electronic repair shops, CD copying shops, beauty salons and tailoring houses. Ethiopian women peddlers of medicated oils and incenses were also arrested.
The officials also arrested illegally staying laborers hiding in some old buildings. While a few of them disappeared in the darkness, several of them were found hiding under beds and inside shelves. Some women were seen pleading for mercy from the officials saying that they were not committing a crime but earning the money to feed their children back home.
Brig. Muhammad Al-Asmari, director of the Passports Department for the Makkah province, supervised the operations.
By Ali Al-Amri, Arab News