JEDDAH: Passports Department officers at Al-Shumaysi checkpoint, halfway between Makkah and Jeddah, have sent away a large number of pilgrims who had no Haj permits and impounded vehicles carrying violating pilgrims, officials said. Col. Khaled Radad Al-Harithy, assistant commander of Al-Shumaysi Passports Center, said officers have been impounding about 20 vehicles on a daily basis and pointed out that some drivers, for a big sum of money, deliberately transport illegal aliens and individuals without IDs to perform Haj. He said some drivers also try to smuggle overstaying women by claiming that they are family-members. These drivers produce their families' IDs but the Passports Department's recently established Women's Section has helped uncover the smuggled women's identities. Security men at the checkpoint are fully mobilized in preparation for receiving the huge numbers of the pilgrims who will head to Makkah in the few next days, said Col. Al-Harithy. Passports officers at the stations have established the slogan, “No Haj Without Permit” and they are strictly enforcing it, he added. Col. Al-Harithy said security men at the Al-Shumaysi checkpoint have directed several Makkah-bound trucks to Jissr Bahra to ease the flow of traffic. He said the Passports Department is operating 12 main stations and six additional stations to check the IDs and Haj permits of local pilgrims entering Makkah. The stations have been set up on the Makkah-Jeddah Old Road, Al-Tanim, Al-Sail, and all roads leading to Makkah via Al-Jablain Hada in addition to the cable car station. Col. Al-Harithy said the officers deployed on these stations will not allow any resident to enter Makkah without a Haj permit and pointed out that officers monitor residents who try to sneak into the holy city through dirt roads. Officers investigate the identities of this particular group of residents and hold them until they receive confirmation from the operation room that they have clean records and then they send them back to where they have come from, he said. He said officers at checkpoints check all cars, impound those driven by violators and the violators are handed over to the Makkah Passports Department. He said the violators would be freed on bail.
