JEDDAH, 12 June 2007 — The Jeddah Municipality, police and representatives from the Ministry of Commerce arrested a gang of over 30 overstayers of various Asian nationalities who had turned an animal farm in Jeddah into a sweet factory.
The factory, which is located in the Al-Sawaeed area of the city east of the Makkah Expressway, produced different types of children’s sweets, biscuits, bread and pastries.
The detainees told authorities that they had arrived in the Kingdom on Umrah visas and overstayed to work in the factory. They also said that they did not have any prior experience in the manufacturing of food products and, ignoring health standards, operated the factory to make money. Authorities took samples of food items seized at the location for testing.
The overstayers said they had rented the farm from a Saudi man, who was aware of their activities, and that they would prepare and package food using special machines to make their goods look as professional as possible. They would also attach fake expiry dates and logos of well-known brands to make the items look original.
They also told police that they had a distribution team that would help them distribute the goods they produced to local grocery shops and bakeries. They would also sell their food to children in front of schools.
Meanwhile, in the Al-Rabwa district of the city, police raided a factory operating from a rented apartment that made sweets and pastries. Working at the factory was a group of 10 overstayers, also of Asian nationalities.
Police said the apartment was unclean and full of cockroaches crawling over food. Tests revealed that the goods produced at the factory contained dangerous bacteria.
A source from the Ministry of Commerce told Arab News that the owners of buildings and sites used to house such factories would be severely investigated and punished. The source added that the ministry would continue its campaign against negative practices that endanger people’s health.
“The ministry has transferred many of these cases to court. We have also closed down some of these places in the past and revoke the commercial license of those found guilty,” he said.
