Police in Jizan conducted an anti-crime campaign led by Colonel Abdullah Asseri, Assistant Police Director for Financial and Administrative Affairs, and Colonel Abdul Aziz Hakami, Director of Task Forces, in the Jizan Police Department. The campaign resulted in the arrests of 894 people who were found to be in violation of the Kingdom's migration rules, including 36 beggars and several Arab and African women who had been caught hiding in makeshift hideouts in valleys. The eight-hour campaign, which covered several areas in the outskirts of the city of Jizan, security forces seized 464 bundles of qat – a narcotic tree – and 512 bags of flour which smugglers were trying to haul out of the Kingdom. In addition, they found two cars, one of which had been reported stolen, while the other had been used in criminal activities. The police also rounded up a Saudi who had been accused of transporting illegal aliens. Captain Ahmed Jaber Al-Wadani, spokesman for the Jizan Police Department, said the violators of residency (iqama) regulations were handed over to security authorities at Al-Tawal checkpoint to arrange their deportation to their countries, while and the Qat bundles had been delivered to the Anti-Narcotics Department. Passport patrols also arrested six Asian and Arab overstayers while they were looking for jobs in farms at Al-Hada rural complex south of Al-Jamoom. – Okaz __
