MAKKAH, 7 June 2007 — The Passport Department in Makkah recently arrested a Filipino Christian man who had been living in the city illegally and was wanted in relation to a theft in Riyadh.
The man was apprehended when he voluntarily surrendered to Passport Department officials claiming his name was Abdul Hadi and that he was an overstayer. After undergoing fingerprint checks, officials discovered that the man was on the run having stolen from his sponsor in Riyadh.
The Filipino initially arrived in the Kingdom as an electrician six years ago. He stole money from his sponsor and ran away to Makkah after being advised by friends that he would be safe there.
Col. Aid ibn Tagalib Al-Luqmani, head of the Passport Department in Makkah, has ordered the man be sent to Jeddah. He added that the fingerprinting system introduced by the passport authorities recently is highly effective in combating crimes. This is the second Christian man to be arrested this year in the holy city of Makkah, which is off-limits to non-Muslims. Last month, Arab News reported that the Expatriates Monitoring Committee arrested a Sri Lankan Christian, who had also absconded from his sponsor in Dammam and was selling goods beside the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
Suhail Matrafi, head of the department in charge of Expatriates Affairs in the Makkah region, warned foreign residents that come on Umrah visas from changing their names or their passports to illegally reside in the Kingdom.
He added that the new fingerprint system help reveal the correct identities of people.
The Passport Department in Makkah arrested 13 people of different nationalities who had returned to the Kingdom after previously being deported. The overstayers were arrested in a raid and were identified using new state-of-the-art fingerprinting facilities.
According to officials, some of those arrested had previously committed crimes in the Kingdom and returned under false names.
