More than 1.25 million arrested in Saudi for labour law violations

Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 1.25 million people for violating residential, labour and border security regulations as of until June 14, local media reported.

The people were detained during the kingdom’s crackdown on illegal residents which began in November last year.

Those arrested included 931,069 violators of residential regulations, local daily Arab News reported. While 218,897 were caught for flouting labour laws, 102,000 violated border security regulations.

The total number of people arrested for illegally attempting to cross Saudi’s borders stood at 19,233 people. Among them, 54 per cent were Yemenis, 43 per cent were Ethiopian, and 3 per cent were from other nations.

Also read: Saudi crackdown on illegal residents, workers nets 1.1 million people

The kingdom also arrested 790 people who tried to leave the country illegally.

While 2,167 people were arrested for harbouring and transporting violators of labour and security border regulations, 415 citizens were arrested for transporting and sheltering expatriates violating regulations.

Regulatory measures were taken against 388 citizens who were subsequently released, the report added.

Immediate penalties were imposed on 221,404 violators while 177,329 of them were referred to their respective diplomatic missions for travel documents. A total of 327,034 people were deported.

The number of expatriates who are still detained stands at 10,245, including 8,817 men and 1,428 women.

Saudi’s crackdown is taking place amid a wider exodus of legal foreign workers, who are facing a higher cost of living following the implementation of a value added tax, increased fuel and electricity prices and a dependents fee.

Read: Saudi sees 277,000 foreign workers leave jobs in Q4