Ministry of Interior: Tough penalties for citizens and residents assisting infiltrators

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Saudi authorities have urged citizens and residents to report illegal migrants and warned there will be tough penalties if anyone is found to be assisting them.  Transporting, hiring, smuggling or covering up infiltrators is an offence punishable by two years in prison and a penalty of SR 100,000, said Lt. Col. Talal Bin Abdul Mohsen Al Shalhoub, spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

“The penalty also includes deportation of the violator if he is an expatriate. He will be named and shamed,” he said, according to Okaz newspaper. Vehicles used in transporting illegals will be confiscated after a court ruling, the official said.  “Anyone seeing a crowd of violators of residence, labour and border systems should immediately inform security personnel, who will confront those violators,” he added.  The warning comes a day after Saudi police announced the arrest of three Ethiopian infiltrators suspected of having set a massive bushfire that had raged for days.