Illegals making the most of amnesty

Foreigners overstaying their Haj and Umrah visas as well as intruders are making the most of the four-month amnesty extension as they use the opportunity to make more money before being deported to their home countries.
Ethiopians Mohammad and Abdussamad and Sudanese Molawi came to the Kingdom on Umrah visas and decided to stay, washing cars and selling car accessories in Dammam. The three live together along with other Africans in a single room.
A car picks them up every afternoon to where they work and after midnight the same car takes them back to their room. They present a statement of account every night to their agents who provide them with work and accommodation.
There are thousands of such illegal workers in the Kingdom, posing a big threat to its security.
Badr Almotawa, a Saudi journalist, called for a 10-year-long campaign to end this negative phenomenon. He told Arab News that he proposed a meeting of the governors of Makkah, Jazan and Najran along with chief administrators of major cities in these regions, director general of the public security and director of the border guards to work out a strategy to stop illegals.
According to Almotawa, police in the south arrest about 70,000 illegals every month. “I believe there will be at least 100,000 others who evade security checks,” he said while stressing the need to re-launch the hi-tech fence project along the southern border.