MAKKAH, 7 August 2006 — The Makkah Municipality recently arrested 875 street sellers including 290 Saudis, who have been charged with selling their wares illegally in the streets.
The arrests came after the Anti-Peddler Committee, which is part of the Makkah Municipality, began a drive to rid the city of illegal street peddlers. Sources told Arab News that the foreigners arrested would be handed over to the responsible authorities to determine their legal status. Anyone without proper resident papers would be deported.
Recent statistics have revealed that the Saudi economy is loosing SR4 billion a year from sales of counterfeit products and food items that have passed their sell-by dates. Most illegal items found in the Kingdom are smuggled into Saudi Arabia through random entry points. It is estimated that Makkah itself loses more than SR500 million from the sales of counterfeit products during Haj.
The Anti-Peddler Committee has intensified their activities in Makkah since the start of the summer vacation to ensure the safety of visitors to the city. More than 19,000 kilos of rotten food products deemed unfit for consumption have so far been confiscated.
The Anti-Fraud Department in Makkah, which is part of the Ministry of Commerce, has also intensified their inspection of shops selling edibles. The department took 575 food samples from more than 380 shops to ensure that food sold is safe for human consumption. At least 44 of the samples taken showed that the food was rotten.
Criminals Caught in Police Push
A number of expatriates, illegal immigrants and locals who were involved in criminal activities across Riyadh have been arrested in the last few days in a push by police to tackle crime, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported yesterday. Among the criminals caught were a Bangladeshi wanted on charges of drug trafficking and two Yemenis who were arrested while trying to break into a vending machine in Batha.
