MAKKAH, 13 November 2006 — Each year thousands of poor pilgrims flock to the Kingdom during the Ramadan season on short Umrah visas with the aim of overstaying in Makkah until the end of Haj. Many of these pilgrims pay substantial amounts of money to “dodgy” Haj agents, sometimes spending their life savings to stay until Haj in the holy land.

In the last few weeks, up to 3,000 overstaying pilgrims have been arrested by Saudi Passport Department officials. With the Kingdom bracing itself for the impending arrival of millions of Haj pilgrims, overstayers simply add to the organizational nightmare that the Haj can become for authorities.

Arab News recently spent a day with Passport Department officials while they conducted raids at overstayer dens located across the holy city.

“Two days before my Umrah visa was to expire, a Haj agent came and asked me to pack my stuff and go with him to an unknown location,” said Rafaat Ahmad, an Egyptian pilgrim, who was arrested by the authorities for overstaying.

Ahmad said the Haj agent instructed him not to venture outside and not to switch the lights on to ensure people outside the building do not find out that there are people inside. “We were told to remain in one room with a group of people of other nationalities. We were supposed to live like this for two months until Haj ,” he said.

“There was garbage everywhere and there was hardly any sunlight coming inside the house because all the windows were shut and darkened. There was no fridge and the food would go bad quickly,” said Ahmad, who remained there until the Passport Department raided the house following a tip-off.

Most pilgrims arrested with Ahmad seemed poor, simple people unaware of Haj and Umrah visa regulations. Their desire to perform Haj had led them to try the impossible and pay unscrupulous Haj agents to remain in the Kingdom illegally. Some had paid as much as SR4,000 to be able to perform Haj. Some of the pilgrims cried and told officials that they were the victims of a scam. An elderly man blamed his children for not helping him pay to perform Haj in the proper legal way.

One African pilgrim caught was Kareema, who said she was tricked by a Haj agent in her home country.

“He took advantage of my lack of knowledge to steal money from me,” said Kareema, who comes from a poor village in Africa.

She paid a total of SR4,000 to the Haj agent to come for Umrah and then remain until Haj. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I told other women in the village and we thought we could hit two birds with one stone,” she said.

Before her visa was about to expire during Ramadan, Kareema said, she was offered a place to hide. “I saw many people from other nationalities all squeezed in one place. We were disappointed because we then realized that we were doing something illegal. This was worse than jail because we were not allowed to go out, open the window, take in fresh air or even eat decent food. If we needed something, someone would come and deliver the item at night,” she said.

In one raid at a wedding hall in Makkah, over 170 illegal pilgrims were arrested. One of the arrested pilgrims said his Haj agent told him the hall belonged to a top-ranking police official. “The police official would also bring us food and we thought we were safe. It was all a lie,” the pilgrim said bitterly. Passport Department officials also arrested the man masquerading as the top-ranking police official.

Col. Ayied Al-Luqmani, head of the Passport Department in Makkah, said: “All those arrested would be deported to their home countries. As for the illegal Haj agents, they will be investigated and, if found guilty, fined SR10,000 for each pilgrim that they harbored.”