Police raids on sites in Abu Areish in Jizan at the weekend led to the arrest of an undisclosed number of persons living in the Kingdom illegally and the discovery of a variety of other offenses. A raid at a two-story building uncovered a “snuff-producing workshop” and other prohibited materials. Several males and females without legal documents were detained, also suspected of engaging in “immoral acts”. At another site officers found SR350,000 in cash, the origin of which is still being investigated, as well as prepaid telephone cards and marriage contracts written in non-Arabic languages. Muhammad Bin Labda, Governor of Abu Areish, said that “numerous dens were raided”. “Ethiopian and Yemeni illegal entrants and persons who had overstayed pilgrim visas were detained,” Bin Labda said. “They had been working illegally and were found with large amounts of money, mobile telephones and compact disks.”
