11,000 Overstayers Await Deportation

P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH, 25 May 2005 — More than 11,000 illegal immigrants, including 3,000 women, are being held at the Jeddah Deportation Center, according to Col. Muhammad Al-Wadyani, director of expatriate affairs at the center.

He said most of the women are Indonesian maids who had run away from their sponsors. “Efforts are under way to send these illegal immigrants back to their home countries in chartered flights and ships,” Okaz Arabic daily quoted Col. Wadyani as saying.

The illegals were arrested after a series of raids carried out by security forces in Jeddah and neighboring townships of Rabigh, Taif, Laith, Qunfuda, Raniya, Al-Kharma and Kamil during recent weeks.

Col. Wadyani said many foreign embassies were slow in providing travel documents required by their citizens held up at the deportation center. “This was delaying their travel to their home countries,” he pointed out.

The center distributes more than 33,000 meals daily among the illegal immigrants, Okaz said. The paper also reported that the Makkah police director had sent a report to Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed emphasizing the need for carrying out more such raids.

The police director also said the raids had helped in cutting down the number of crimes including car theft, prostitution and forgery in the region by 50 percent.

In Jeddah, most of the raids were conducted in Rabwa, Karantina, Ghaleel, Aziziya and Bawadi districts. “We intend to conduct similar raids in 57 other districts,” said Jeddah Police Chief Brig. Gen. Misfer Rizkallah Al-Zehami.

The raids were conducted after authorities noticed an increase in crimes, especially in areas where illegal immigrants were reported to have lived, Al-Zehami said. The raids in Jeddah resulted in the arrest of more than 7,200 people.

In a related development, 109 illegal immigrants were arrested following raids in Baha, Khamees and Tabuk, the paper said. Police also arrested four wanted criminals in Tabuk and seized an unspecified quantity of drugs in these raids, it added.