Saudi Arabia arrests 15,000 in residency, labour operations

Saudi Arabia arrested more than 15,000 people in the past week as it looks to stop residency, labour and security breaches.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Interior in a social media post identifying 15,114 arrests between Sept. 14 and Sept. 20.

The Ministry said the arrests were made by multiple security agencies in the Kingdom during the past week.

The arrests included:

•   9,538 residency violations

•  3,694 border security rule violations

•  2,882 labour law violations

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior also said 702 people had been arrested attempting to cross borders into the Kingdom. Meanwhile 11 were apprehended while trying to exit the country.

Anybody attempting to aid illegal entry into KSA faces a 15-year jail term and a fine of up to SR1m ($267,000).

The Kingdom currently has 43,763 people facing procedures regarding residency, border security and labour law violations, including:

•  38,220 referred to their embassies to obtain travel documents

•  1,722 referred to complete reservations

•  10,482 deported