A Sri Lankan expatriate has been arrested for beating fellow nationals seeking work in Saudi Arabia as domestic workers. He was nabbed in Colombo by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), with police assistance, shortly after arriving for his annual vacation.
The man was exposed when amateur footage was screened on several television channels showing him abusing Sri Lankan maids in a room at a safe house in Saudi Arabia.
Mangala Randeniya, deputy general manager of the SLFBE, told Arab News from Colombo that the man was a sub-agent in Saudi Arabia. “As the incident happened in Saudi Arabia, the SLFBE is consulting with the Attorney General’s Department, seeking assistance on the charges that can be leveled against him,” he said.
The legal department of the SLBFE is also monitoring the situation, he added.
Randeniya said the man was found beating and kicking some maids when they were kept in detention by the Saudi job agent before they were transferred to various sponsors in the Kingdom. They were abused because they did not want to go to houses chosen by the local agent.
The women were recruited under the now banned “Court Wakala” system, where visas are obtained by Saudi job agents for domestic workers. The housemaids are then detained in a safe house before being sent to their employers.
