By ARAB NEWS
Updated: Jan 11, 2012 23:48


llegal expat workers caught in a raid waiting to be deported. (AN photo)

AL-HASSA: Despite the Kingdom’s relentless efforts to regulate the employment market, there are still a huge number of illegal workers.

Their large-scale presence and involvement in illegal acts and crimes pose a grave security threat in addition to numerous other problems, including a flourishing black market for visas and cover up activities (where foreigners take over the running of a business in return for a monthly fee to the registered Saudi owner).

These illegal immigrants have become a time bomb that can explode at any moment. Their presence in the Kingdom drew attention to another reality — the greed of some Saudi citizens who allow their workers to go out in search of any job. They do not care whether these foreigners under their sponsorship engage in any illegal acts. Their only concern is to get their monthly share of money from them, according to a report in Al-Riyadh Arabic daily.

A number of immigrants who engage in various illegal activities in the Al-Mazrouiya district in Al-Hassa told the newspaper that they managed to earn a huge amount of money from a wide variety of activities and give a share of it to their sponsors.

Jahangir, who has been working in the Kingdom for more than 10 years, said that he is an illegal immigrant trying to make his own livelihood.

“Most of these workers run away from their sponsors as they were ill-treated. A large number of sponsors allow their workers to go out and find jobs for themselves. Some of them even force their laborers to do so and instead demand a fixed amount of money per month,” he said adding that some workers get involved in criminal activities such as theft and selling drugs to earn money for himself as well as for the sponsor. Jahangir said there are some born criminals among these workers and they find a golden opportunity to engage in various criminal acts. Such people are behind many offences taking place in various parts of the Kingdom.

Sharif, an Arab national, said he had been struggling to make a decent living in his country even though he has a university degree with distinction. “I saw many of my friends who do not have even a basic education earn huge amounts of money by engaging in various illegal acts in the Kingdom. This tempted me to also follow suit,” he said.

Sharif says that he has dramatically increased his income. “I came here with an ambition to meet a big target — earn a huge amount of wealth,” he said while declining to disclose the actual amount of money he is earning daily and the type of activities that he has been engaged in.

Hassan Al-Banna, a Saudi citizen, confirmed the huge number of illegal immigrants and their involvement in various criminal acts. “This is a grave problem facing Saudi society. If we had not taken action to halt these activities, we would have become victims ourselves,” he said.

Ali Ahmad, another citizen, stressed the need for supporting the concerned authorities to crack down on these illegal workers.

“It is our national and religious duty. Moreover, the security of our country is the collective responsibility of all members of society. We have to work together to put an end to this phenomenon where illegal workers engage in all types of crimes to earn money at the expense of Saudi society as a whole,” he said.

Hassan Al-Ali, another citizen, called for setting up more institutes to provide training to young Saudis to enable them to take up all types of professions, such as plumbing, tailoring, and hotel services, jobs that are dominated by illegal workers.

Illegal workers pose grave threat to security - Arab News