Saudi Arabia captures 21,000 illegal immigrants

Saudi Arabia has caught more than 21,000 people who have infiltrated its borders without the necessary paperwork over the last eight months, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday.

“The total number of those arrested while trying to cross into the Kingdom’s border is 21,112 people,” SPA quoted official sources at the government as saying.

Of those arrested, the agency explained, 52 per cent were Yemenis, 54 per cent were Ethiopians, and three per cent held other nationalities. The violators had been detected over the period from 15 November 2017 to 5 July 2018.

According to official data, the Saudi government’s joint field campaigns to track and control violations of the Residency regulations, work and border security across the nation has resulted in the seizure of 1,359,345 offenders, including 1,017,427 people who have failed to comply with the residency system, 233,125 who flouted labour laws and 108,793 found to be in the country contrary to border security rules.

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