Jeddah eatery, toxic plant closed down

JEDDAH: Jeddah civic officials have shut down a restaurant in Al-Andalus residential district for violating government health regulations and cracked down on an environmentally toxic operation in Briman Municipality where workers were burning car batteries to extract lead.
The restaurant was closed by a committee consisting of the General Administration of Licenses, Commercial Control, General Administration of Slaughterhouses, the Public Markets and Al-Azizia District Sub-Municipality. The traditional eatery was operating from inside some villas in the district. Officials confiscated 85 sheep.
The restaurant's violations included not having a regular license and 10 workers without health certificates. The food was prepared in unhygienic conditions with poor circulation and workers did not follow a proper dress code.
Officials also found that the owner was transporting, packaging and storing foodstuff in violation of health regulations. There was an accumulation of waste and the lack of a proper waste disposal system.
In addition, the owner was fined SR 30,200 for slaughtering outside the municipality slaughterhouses. Certain foodstuffs on sale were obtained from unidentified sources, particularly honey, it was discovered.
Meanwhile, in a raid by Briman district sub-municipality officials at a site in a new location at Umm Hablain, east of Jeddah, officials seized two tons of lead that was being sold by illegal workers. The workers were burning car batteries to extract the lead, causing a great deal of toxic fumes to spew into the air.
Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Ajmi, head of Briman district municipality, said monitoring teams found four huge stoves used to burn the batteries. He said the municipality destroyed four residential rooms used by the illegal workers. Two large electric generators used for the site and a Dina car were confiscated.
Al-Ajmi said the raid took place over five hours, from noon until 5 p.m. He emphasized the fact that the owner of the operation will face legal action.
He called on residents to inform the authorities if they come across any suspicious or illegal operations in their neighborhoods. He said the municipality will continue to carry out inspections to shut down any illegal operations, particularly those polluting the environment in east Jeddah.