JEDDAH: A government committee has referred five pest control companies to the Prosecution and Investigation Commission to take necessary legal measures against them after they were accused of violating labor and commercial regulations by operating without official permits.
A committee member, who did not want to be named, said the companies rented furnished apartments, forged their foreign employees’ official papers and used chemicals banned for home use. The names of the companies were not provided. The committee member said, without elaborating, that foreigners owned all five companies involved but had never registered them.
The official said a separate report on the case will be submitted to Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed to contain the situation before it flares out and to initiate a mechanism to inspect all pest-control companies to make sure that they are licensed since they do their work at the homes of citizens and expatriates.
In February, the Saudi-owned pest control chain Super Kill was blamed by the management of Basateen Village compound in Jeddah of applying a deadly restricted-use pesticide in a villa that led to the death of two Danish children in an adjoining unit.
The anonymous source said inspections revealed that some vendors were selling unlabeled pesticides, which is illegal.
It has been common for some vendors to remove dangerous industrial pesticides from their packages to resell in smaller doses bereft of labels and instructions on proper use.
