RIYADH – The ministries of interior and labor on Wednesday announced that the Directorate General of Passports issued severe penalties against 11 Saudis for violating the country's labor and residency regulations, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The men were accused of transporting, employing and sheltering infiltrators and illegal residents, in addition to providing them cover-up. The violators were identified as Yahya Abdu Ibrahim Hadi Sawadi, Eid Ahmad Ayidh Al-Shanbari, Saleh Owdah Al-Wuhaishi Al-Bluwi, Zaher Hassan Al-Hamzain Al-Samadani, Ibrahim Rasheed Al-Marhabi, Abdulkhaliq Hassan Al-Amri, Ahmad Omar Badawood, Ahmad Matar Al-Siraihi, Maher Ahmad Rahmani, Misfir Siraj Mahdi Al-Rasheed and Saad Muhammad Zanbtouri. All of them were from the Makkah region except Badawood and Al-Rasheed, who are based in Qassim. The punishments against them included jail terms of up to six months, fines ranging from SR425,000 to SR20,000 and confiscation of vehicles used for transporting the infiltrators, in addition to naming and shaming them in the local media. The penalties were issued through administrative committees formed in the passport departments of various regions and governorates and approved by Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior. The ministries of interior and labor called upon all citizens and expatriates, either as business owners or individuals, to refrain from employing or sheltering infiltrators and violators of the residency regulations in order to avoid heavy penalties.
