Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Nation-Free of Violators campaign announced that as many as 4,405,989 expatriate violators were nabbed since it was launched mid November 2017 until Thursday.

The campaign consists of 19 ministries and government departments including the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the directorate general of passports (Jawazat).

It explained that 3,444,531 expatriates have violated the system of residency, 675,730 the work laws and 285,728 the border security system.

The campaign said some 80,302 people were caught while attempting to infiltrate into the Kingdom through its southern borders. The Ethiopians made about 55 percent of them, the Yemenis 42 percent and three percent people of various other nationalities.

It said 3,008 expatriates were apprehended while attempting to leave the Kingdom illegally.

The campaign said as many as 4,755 were accused of providing accommodation and transport to the illegal expatriates including 1,794 Saudis of whom 1,755 were interrogated, punished and released while 39 other Saudis were still being probed.

According to the campaign, 15,273 expatriates are detained in detention centers. They were 12,626 men and 1,647 women.

It said 554,686 violating expatriates were referred to their concerned embassies and consulates to issue them with travel documents while 741,139 were finalizing their departure procedures.

According to the campaign, as many as 1,111,703 expatriates were deported to their respective homes.