Around 2.82mln arrested for residency, labor violations in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: Nearly 2.82 million violators of residency, work and border security systems have been arrested in a year-long roundup, according to an official report.

Since the campaign began in November 2017, there have been 2,827,564 offenders, including 2,204,460 for violating residency regulations, 432,461 for labor violations and 190,643 for border violations, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The report said that 47,863 people were arrested while trying to cross the border into the Kingdom, 50 percent of whom were Yemeni citizens, 47 percent were Ethiopians and 3 percent were of other nationalities.

2,015 people were arrested for trying to cross the border into neighboring countries and 3,533 were arrested for involvement in transporting and harboring those violators. 1,166 Saudi citizens were arrested for harboring the violators against local laws, of which 46 are being detained, pending the completion of procedures.

Immediate penalties were imposed against 424,223 offenders; 385,618 were transferred to their respective diplomatic missions to obtain travel documents; 480,441 were transferred to complete their travel reservations; and 719,801 were deported.