In crackdown against hiring and sheltering illegals, the Makkah Passport Department Administrative Committee at the Expatriates Administration fined erring businessmen and establishments SR4.5 million. In the past four months 1,300 cases of residency law violation were taken up, said Director of Foreigners Administration in Makkah Colonel Hussein Al-Harithy. The committee fined a businessman SR1 million for employing illegal workers. Another businessman was fined SR1 million for employing workers not under his sponsorship. An Arab resident was fined SR800,000 for transporting overstayers. A Saudi was fined SR600,000 for smuggling illegal residents into Makkah to perform Haj. Passport patrols had arrested two Arab bus drivers in the last Haj season while transporting more than 612 people without Haj permits. Each of them was fined SR560,000. Colonel Al-Harithy said Passport patrols arrest thousands of illegals everyday. They are fingerprinted before being deported. – Okaz __
