2.5m arrested for residency, labour violations in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh - They were caught during a year-long campaign.

Over 2.5 million people have been caught for flouting residency, labour and border regulations in year-long campaign in Saudi Arabia. 
According to an official report, the campaign to crack down on violators began in November 2017 and has since led to arrest of 2,504,037 offenders in a year. From the total number of violators arrested, 1,949,024 were held for violating residency regulations, while 383,033 people were held for flouting labour regulations.
The report stated that 171,980 people were caught for border violations while 41,233 were arrested while trying to cross the border into the Kingdom. Of the 41,233 arrested, 51 per cent were Yemeni citizens, 46 per cent were Ethiopians and 3 per cent comprised of other nationalities.
The report further mentioned that around 1,852 people were arrested while trying to cross the border into neighboring countries and 3,305 were arrested for aiding transportation and assisting violators to cross borders illegally.
Immediate penalties were imposed against 385,898 offenders and 345,075 were transferred to their respective diplomatic missions to obtain travel documents. While 430,271 offenders were transferred to complete their travel reservations and 637,507 were deported, according to reports in Arab News.

• Saudi Arabia