June 13, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's immigration authorities have rounded up about 15,000 illegal residents in Jeddah, camping beneath the city bridges waiting for deportation, it was reported on Tuesday. They have been waiting to take advantage of the no-penalty amnesty, allowed to illegal residents in the Kingdom.

Authorities did not say when these raids have taken place. The no-penalty amnesty ended a couple of weeks ago.

It wasn't clear whether these people will face the penalty for being detained after the end of the amnesty, even if they were waiting much before the end of the amnesty to be processed.

Colonel Muhammad Hassan Al-Asmari, a local head of the Passport Department, said buses were sent to local encampments where thousands of South and Southeast Asian illegal residents were waiting to take advantage of the no-penalty amnesty scheme. Although the nationality-wise break up was not available, it also included a number of Pakistanis. Most of them have over stayed.

Passport officials were investigating individual case before facilitating deportation to ensure that the deportees have not committed any crime, the local Arab News reported.

Passport officials investigate every individual case before facilitating deportation to ensure that the deportees have not committed any other crimes (besides living illegally in the Kingdom).

Meanwhile, authorities in Makkah have increased the penalty for expatriates who harbour illegal residents to a SR10, 000 fine, two months in jail and deportation.