DAMMAM: Passport officials in the Eastern Province arrested 637 foreign workers without valid residence permits in a number of operations in Dammam, Alkhobar and Abqaiq recently. The officials also found huge sums of money with some of the arrested workers. While several of them were working independently as vegetable hawkers and street peddlers, others were working for Saudi employers after running away from their legal sponsors.
In the Uhud district of Dammam, officials arrested a man who was running a shelter for runaway maids and finding new employers for them. Some of the laborers arrested from the Hammam district did not have any documents to prove their nationality or how they entered the Kingdom.
The officials made several arrests in Alkhobar after setting up temporary checkpoints. The detainees included two women who escaped from a dressmaker’s workshop in Jeddah. A runaway maid lived with them.
Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Humaidi, director of the Passport Department in the Eastern Province, urged citizens and expatriates to cooperate with officials to flush out violators of residence and work regulations. The officer warned that the citizens and expatriates who colluded with illegal workers would be punished.
