JEDDAH: The Makkah Region Passports Department is checking the records of 36 Ethiopian females arrested during a Friday night raid carried out by patrols at suspicious apartments in Jeddah's Al-Faisalia District. A bus was seen carrying the female suspects to the Expatriates Section so that they could be questioned and records checked before possible deportation to their home country. During their surprise campaign, the patrols targeted the hideouts of criminals and overstayers in the district. They also targeted hawkers at traffic signals and intersections of major roads in Jeddah, who use these locations to market cheap and unidentified goods. The security operation resulted in the arrest of 177 men and women of different nationalities, most of them workers and hawkers. The campaign was launched after the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the Directorate of Passports was tipped off about the presence of groups of illegal workers in hideouts in Al-Faisalia District. At 1:00 A.M. the security men in civilian clothes knocked at the doors and took away the violators in Passports Department buses. In a bid to implement the regulations, the Passports Department also wants people punished for harboring these suspected illegal residents.
