The Fingerprinting Department at the Expatriates Followup Administration in Jeddah last month foiled the escape of 500 workers wanted on criminal charges. Capt. Hatim Al-Hazmi, currently heading investigations, said that the charges included embezzlement, drugs, immorality and flight from sponsors. Al-Hazmi said some individuals had tried to escape through the Expatriates Followup Administration under the names of fellow countrymen who had entered the country on Umrah visas, but their true identities were discovered by the electronic fingerprinting system. Col. Hussein Al-Harithi, Director of the Expatriates Followup Administration, said the fingerprinting system helped enormously in combating the problem of workers and housemaids staying in the Kingdom beyond the time allowed on their visas, and also in detecting wanted individuals who attempt to flee the country. “There is also the problem of people who have been deported from the Kingdom only to return on new passports, but they can now be detected by matching their fingerprints with those in computer records at border crossings, ports and airports,” Al-Harithi said. The Fingerprinting Department has five centers linked to the National Information Center with equipment for taking fingerprints and eye scans, a process which can provide a match with names on records or individuals wanted by the authorities within a minute. The system discovers between 20 and 30 male and female workers wanted in criminal cases or for fleeing from their sponsors everyday. Al-Harithi asked sponsors to facilitate the registration of their workers' fingerprints at the Passports Department. “This will safeguard their rights and prevent workers from trying to assume other people's identities and help foil attempts to flee the country,” he said. All of the Kingdom's entry points have been supplied with the fingerprinting systems. – Okaz/SG __
