Badr Al-Ghanimi
ILLEGAL migration is one of Makkah’s major problems. Many foreign pilgrims overstay their Haj and Umrah visas to become permanent residents. Makeshift buildings constructed by these foreigners have become disorganized residential districts. The social, economic and security problems created by them remain like ticking bombs that could explode any time.
I began my trip for this investigative report from Al-Mansour district, which many overstayers consider as a safe haven. Despite the implementation of King Abdulaziz Road project, which passes through the alleys and corridors of the neighborhood, the district still has an African color, scent and taste.
Foreigners who overstayed their Haj and Umrah visas have taken refuge in about 30 districts, including Rusaifa, Sharie Jurham, Tandabawi, Hindawiya, Jabal Al-Nour, Allaqi, Hosh Bakr, Harat Yemen and Jabal Ghurab.
Many of these illegals have created secret pathways through the mountains to escape from security officers during occasional raids. Many of these people abandon their homes without paying rents and without informing the landlords, who will be surprised to see a new tenant in the house without his knowledge. Some others have started constructing new disorganized homes to accommodate illegals, without the permission of authorities.
Some of them have even received handsome compensation when they were evicted from their homes in locations earmarked for development projects, enabling them to obtain homes in new neighborhoods.
Al-Mansour Street provides a suitable environment for African overstayers who engage in various illegal activities such as black magic, liquor trade, forgery and sheltering illegals. About 48 percent of people living in these districts are illiterate. About 18 percent of them have primary education, 11.5 percent intermediate and 7.1 percent secondary education.
Poverty is the hallmark of these illegals as the monthly income of 58 percent of them would not exceed SR1,000. Most families have a large number of children. They sit along streets looking for someone to give them jobs. Others engage in beggary and car washing. Thieves escape on motorbikes after mugging women of their handbags and mobile phones.
Some of these people engage in various illegal and immoral activities to make a living without any compunction. It is not surprising that about 200 out of more than 400 inmates in Jeddah Juvenile Center are children arrested from these districts for petty crimes. Expats account for 65 percent of the inmates at the center.
Police have said about 99 percent of sorcerers in Makkah are visa overstayers. They make money by allegedly creating problems between couples and other individuals.
A Nigerian overstayer purportedly claimed that he can remove the impact of black magic as a result of his close affinity with the son of the King of Jinn, who lives in Kano.
Many businessmen fell victims to black magicians in Makkah but they do not inform police fearing undesirable consequences.
People warned me against visiting Hosh Bakr because of the presence of criminal gangs in the neighborhood. I saw children in a street Hosh Bakr making fun of a drunken man in broad daylight.
Col. Ati Al-Qurashi, police spokesman for Makkah province, claimed a 13 percent drop in crime rate in the region this year compared to last year as a result of the efforts of security officers.
Makkah has the largest crime rate (34.3 percent) in the Kingdom, followed by Riyadh (26.48 percent) and Jazan (11.64 percent).
Drug trafficking and sale topped the list of crimes among non-Saudis with 58.5 percent, followed by liquor-related cases (26 percent), thefts (2 percent), fighting (15 percent), prostitution and adultery (8 percent), blackmail (3.65 percent). There were 22 cases of money laundering for every 100,000 expat population in the country.
Abdullah Fallata, coordinator in charge at the Nigerian Youth Council, said: “We are born in Makkah and we are capable of giving necessary support to security authorities to fight undesirable practices that take place in the holy city. But nobody has contacted us. This role can be shouldered by members of every African community in Makkah. It will have a tremendous impact in reducing the crime rate.”
He added: “We have a strategic plan but we don’t have the power to convince our elders who lead the community and want to protect their vested interests.”
The Burmese community has achieved a lot as a result of their coordinated activities, he added.
The most worrying thing for Makkah is that the door is still open for illegals to overstay their visas in the Kingdom. Illegal migration of foreigners has become a kind of cancer that is eating away the country’s economy and resources. The government applies tranquilizers to solve the problem, instead of adopting drastic solutions and preventive measures.
Demographic indicators in many of the African countries whose citizens form the bulk of illegal migrants in Makkah demand from Saudi Arabia to take strong measures against illegal immigration. The authorities should deport foreign criminals and their families immediately and without any leniency.
