JEDDAH, 29 December 2006 — The officials at the Shumaisy checkpoint on the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway arrested a Saudi ambulance driver on Wednesday who was attempting to smuggle several expatriate pilgrims into the holy city of Makkah without Haj permits, the Al-Madinah daily reported yesterday.
Haj permits are mandatory for those who wish to attend the pilgrimage. The ambulance driver, from a private hospital in Makkah, made the pilgrims pretend to be seriously ill and disguised them with bandages.
He told the officials that they were involved in an accident and were burned in a fire and that they were being rushed to a hospital.
However a closer look at the patients revealed that they were healthy and were only pretending to be sick.
The hoax Hajis were handed over to the Passport Department for deportation and the driver was arrested.