They had entered the country legally but told officials they were overstayers whose Umrah visas had expired so they could be deported free of charge.

Fingerprint records confirmed that they were actually legal residents in the country and had escaped from their sponsors, who had filed reports at their respective passport departments. Over 10,000 people had been arrested over the last three months through the fingerprinting system.

Meanwhile, a housemaid in her 30s jumped from a speeding car and injured herself as her sponsor took her to the deportation office on King Abdulaziz Road in Yanbu on Monday, police said.