MAKKAH, 13 July 2007 — The newly-introduced fingerprinting system at the expatriate administration in the Passport Department in Makkah helped detect 32 cases of the illegal return of deported overstayers recently, according to an official of the administration. Lt. Col. Shoayl Al-Matrafi, director of the expatriate administration, told Arab News at his office in Makkah yesterday that the 32 people belonging to various nationalities were deported from the Kingdom at various times as they had committed various violations.
“Though some of them initially denied their previous presence in the Kingdom, they could not reject the evidence of their own fingerprints and admitted to their violations in the past leading to their eventual deportation,” Al-Matrafi said.
They confessed that they returned to the Kingdom a second time under false names and have been staying in the Kingdom illegally, the official said. It was also found that some of them carried regular iqamas (residence permits). They were arrested in some of the Passport Department’s recent campaigns, he said.
The officer said, “The fingerprinting system does not leave any loophole for the overstayers to return. The system will end the practice of several deported people returning to the Kingdom and help a lot in combating crimes.”
