Business owners here have been told to turn in their illegal expatriate workers or face fines and imprisonment, according to Labor Ministry sources.

This comes as government inspectors raided several well-known shopping complexes in Riyadh including the popular computer market in he Al-Mursalat neighborhood and stores on Khalid bin Al-Walid Street.

When the inspectors and police arrived at the markets, several workers abandoned their shops and fled. The ministries of labor and interior are currently tracking the illegal workers and have detained some business owners. The Labor Ministry has warned business owners that it is their responsibility to bring in the workers. The ministry has not received any applications from private schools to be excluded from the raids, the sources said.

Faisal Al-Otaibi, director-general of the ministry's general directorate of inspections, said no company was exempt from the raids.

He said inspectors are required to present their identity card during their visits, and order all employees to present their identity cards, which are then matched to the company's attendance register and salary log.

The inspectors only take action if there are violations of work and residency laws.

If a company has applied to rectify the status of its workers, then the owner has to sign a register promising to sort out the situation in one month. If this is not done, then legal action would follow, said Al-Otaibi.

He said the government has set up an operations room to follow up on the inspections. Teams are working according to a comprehensive list that includes expatriates working for themselves or for people other than their sponsors.

Penalties for failing to abide by the law include businesspeople having all their services cut off by the Labor Ministry, fines and imprisonment.