JEDDAH, 5 July 2003 — The border guards have arrested only 44 people trying to enter the Kingdom illegally from the north, according to Gen. Ibrahim Al-Ayidy, commander of the border guards.

The number is low because there is little smuggling activity, mainly because the area is open and so it is hard to pass unseen by the border guards. Sand barriers and regular border patrols also play their part in preventing smuggling. This contrasts sharply with the notoriously porous Saudi-Yemeni border in the south.

“There are 15 posts along the 363 km-long border with Jordan that fall under the two sections, which are connected by a good road,” Gen. Al-Ayidy told Al-Riyadh daily recently. “We have heat-sensitive cameras that detect movement along the border. The number of smuggling operations has decreased sharply since we introduced that instrument.”

Gen. Al-Ayidy said most people who attempt to cross the border illegally were looking for work, while others were trying to smuggle contraband.

“We have a problem with sheep herders who try to cross without paying attention to the fact that it is an international border. Two days ago, we arrested a shepherd who claimed he was Jordanian. From his accent, we knew he was Iraqi. Later, he told us that he was born in Kuwait and was afraid to go back to Iraq.”

He said there were seasonal variations. “During Haj, people get off the bus and try to cross where there are no guards.”

It is rare for his men to apprehend women who try to cross, he said, “but sometimes Saudi men who have married foreign women without permission try to smuggle the women in.”

“There are also cases where people are trying to sneak out of the Kingdom. Mostly they are either wanted criminals trying to escape from the police or overstayers who do not want to pay the penalties. But it’s very rare to see Saudi nationals sneaking out of the country.”

Al-Riyadh newspaper met with a 60 year-old Yemeni man and his son who had tried to sneak into the Kingdom over the Jordanian border. The man and his son wanted to come to Saudi Arabia to look for work. They completed a 21-day jail sentence for attempted infiltration and were deported back to Jordan.

“I’ve been in Jordan for 20 years,” the father said. “I have a job there but we have many financial problems. I know I am too old for work but I was sure I would find something in Saudi Arabia that I could do.”

The number is low because there is little smuggling activity, mainly because the area is open and so it is hard to pass unseen by the border guards. Sand barriers and regular border patrols also play their part in preventing smuggling.

This contrasts sharply with the notoriously porous Saudi-Yemeni border in the south.

“There are fifteen posts along the 363 km-long border with Jordan that fall under the two sections, which are connected by a good road,” Gen. Al-Ayidy told Al-Riyadh daily. “We have heat-sensitive cameras that detect movement along the border. The number of smuggling operations has decreased sharply since we introduced that instrument.”

Gen. Al-Ayidy said most people who attempt to cross the border illegally were looking for work, while others were trying to smuggle contraband. “We have a problem with sheep herders who try to cross without paying attention to the fact that it is an international border. Two days ago, we arrested a shepherd who claimed he was Jordanian. From his accent, we knew he was Iraqi. Later, he told us that he was born in Kuwait and was afraid to go back to Iraq.”

The commander told the paper there were seasonal variations. “During Haj, people get off the bus and try to cross where there are no guards.”