'Hundreds' of Pinoys in Saudi taken to deportation center – report

Tags: Saudi Arabia
Some 600 Filipinos who failed to correct their status and are now stranded in Saudi Arabia were arrested and brought to a deportation center in Shumaisy in Makkah on Sunday, a Saudi news site reported Monday.

Arab News said Jeddah police and passport officials arrested the Filipinos, including children, all of whom were outside the Philippine Consulate in the Rehab area early Sunday.

The Filipinos were put aboard 12 buses, and were brought to the deportation center in Makkah.

The women who were taken into custody seemed relieved, while those left at the consulate were reported to be disappointmented.

Those left behind waited outside the consulate for hours, but the buses that transported the first group did not return to pick them up.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Consulate said it is working with the Saudi passport and police authorities, in coordination with the Saudi Foreign Ministry, to have the stranded Filipinos repatriated.

"About 600 Filipinos were shifted to the deportation center in Makkah by authorities and we are now working on arrangements to transport the remaining stranded OFWs to the same center," Arab News quoted Philippine Consul General Uriel Garibay.

Last week, Saudi authorities started to crackdown on illegals who failed to correct their status or return home before a Nov. 3 deadline lapsed. — DVM, GMA News

Tags: Saudi Arabia

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