Human Traffickers

MAKKAH, 10 October 2003 — The Passports Department has uncovered a ring of human traffickers who smuggle overstayers between Makkah and Taif by concealing them in trucks. The ringleader, a foreigner with a valid residence permit, was arrested along with eight others during a smuggling operation, Okaz newspaper reported. The gang is active in predominantly Malawian neighborhoods. According to Col. Mansour Al-Otaibi of the Passports Department, the ring would charge customers SR300 each to take them to an isolated building from where they would be transferred to a pickup truck and covered with empty boxes. Transports took place mostly at night, he added.