RIYADH: More than 3.24 million violators of residency, work and border security systems have been arrested in a year-long roundup, according to an official report.
Since the joint field security campaign began in November 2017, there have been 3,245,652 offenders, including 2,530,232 for violating residency regulations, 500,454 for labor violations and 214,966 for border violations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
The report said that 54,496 people were arrested while trying to cross the border into the Kingdom, 49 percent of whom were Yemeni citizens, 48 percent were Ethiopians and 3 percent were of other nationalities.
2,391 people were arrested for trying to cross the border into neighboring countries and 3,879 were arrested for involvement in transporting and harboring those violators.
1,323 Saudi citizens were arrested for harboring the violators against local laws, of which 39 are being detained, pending the completion of procedures.
The total number of violators being subjected to procedures is 12,440, including 10,661 men and 1,779 women.
Immediate penalties were imposed against 470,569 offenders; 429,813 were transferred to their respective diplomatic missions to obtain travel documents; 545,074 were transferred to complete their travel reservations; and 813,655 were deported.