Immigration authorities raided some old buildings in the Jeddah districts of Thaalabah, Sabeel and Gurayat, which are notorious for home to illegal foreign workers. Some of those arrested were reported as runaway workers, including maids staying with unrelated men from their home countries.

The raiding team included women officers to deal with women violators.

Detectives had been monitoring the buildings where the illegal workers were staying.

The violators were crammed into narrow rooms in apartments that were unclean, without air-conditioning and poorly sanitized. Some expatriates with legal resident permits sublet rooms to illegal workers, which is illegal.

The inspectors also seized food products being prepared in an unhygienic manner in some rooms.

Many of the illegal tenants were found hiding in shelves and under beds or in the kitchen. The detained are being processed for deportation.