JEDDAH -- SAUDI authorities are planning to use ships and special flights to deport thousands of expatriate overstayers nabbed in the ongoing crackdown on crime in the country, an immigration official said.

Negotiations are being held between the Passports office and Saudia [the national airline] to provide enough seats on its flights and to open new routes for certain destinations so as to hasten the process of deporting the arrested illegals, said Major General Safar Al-Dosary, director of the Passports and Immigration department in the Makkah Region.

He said they will soon meet the director of Saudi Arabian Airlines [Saudia] and the Civil Aviation authorities to discuss the possibility of reserving more seats on Saudia for the deportation.

If Saudia schedules and capacity can't be expanded, he said, the Passports department would sign up foreign airlines for destinations not serviced by Saudia flights or to which the airline has limited flights and hence inadequate seat capacity.

Somalia, for instance, doesn't have an airport, so only helicopters can land there. And Saudia doesn't have enough helicopters to carry the large number of Somali deportees, he said.

Jeddah Governor Prince Mishal Bin Majid has said that immigration offices are seeking to deport illegals by ships as well.

Dosary, however, told The Saudi Gazette that several countries not neighboring do not accept deportees arriving by sea.

Sending Yemeni citizens by ships is a possibility being discussed with the Sana a government though for now there are only a few Yemeni illegals among those arrested.

Saudi authorities in April launched a series of raids in Riyadh, Makkah, Taif and Jeddah as part of a nationwide anti-crime campaign that followed close on the heels of a successful security campaign against Al-Qaeda backed terrorists in the country.

The intensive raids saw the arrest of thousands of illegal residents and alleged sorcerers, thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes and others suspected of criminal activity.

Makkah Emir Prince Abdul Majeed Bin Abdul Aziz has vowed that the raids would go on in the Makkah region as well as the rest of the Kingdom. He warned that building and apartment owners who rent out to illegals or shelter them would be subject to severe penalties.

Wethainani also said several overstayers have surrendered themselves to the deportation office in order to avoid arrest.

Now illegals don t feel as secure as before, he said, they fear they might be arrested any time and that is why they are coming to our office to seek free and safe deportation as the Saudi government pays the costs of their stay till they are deported.

More than 20,000 illegal residents were arrested in Jeddah alone last month, Wethainani said. Most of them were from African countries and were proven to have been involved in different illegal activities like robbery and drug dealing. #