- 350 Million Dhirhams/year to develop UAE Human Resources Development
- Search for the deadbody of Keralite who died in Oman Sea continues.
Five thousand six hunred Saudi Passports Stolen in eight months.
keralamonitor.com
Ashraf K.M.
Riyadh -About 5,610 Saudi passports have been stolen or lost in the past eight months, 4,900 of them inside the Kingdom, a security revealed to a leading English Newspaper. According to the Arab News, 710 Saudi passports were stolen or lost mainly in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Turkey, Indonesia, France, Britain and the United States."In Jordan, the stolen Saudi passports are bought by Iraqis to use them to travel to foreign countries to improve their living conditions. In other countries, the passports are normally used in criminal activity,' the report said. Recently the Police officials of other Gulf countries also warned citizens and expatriates to be careful about their travel documents like passports. Each complaints about missing passport is taken seriously by the concerned embassies.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States in which 15 of the 19 suspected hijackers carried Saudi passports, Saudi authorities have urged nationals to take better care of their travel documents. Saudi nationals and expatriates living in the Kingdom have also been cautioned to beware of fraudsters who might use their identity documents in criminal and terrorist acts. The largest number of lost passports was reported in Riyadh, followed by Jeddah, Dammam and Al-Ahsa.
"Most thefts of Saudi passports in France and Britain took place at airports. In the United States, Saudis lost their passports while sending them to the Kingdom's embassy through courier service," Arab News report said quoting intelligence source. Saudi passport officers arrested 70 expatriates, mainly Yemenis, for carrying stolen Saudi identity cards. "Facial resemblance of the expatriates with the photos carried by the IDs helped them evade previous inspections
Saudi Arabia has a population of 22 million, of whom 16 million are Saudis. Hundreds of thousands of Saudis travel abroad during the summer months to escape the scorching heat. The US Embassy in Riyadh has started regulating visa issues by following strict scrutiny of each individual applicants.
According to Saudi Lt. Col. Fahd Al-Dakkan, director of public affairs at the Passports Department studies were under way to register fingerprints of expatriates to identify them quickly. Lt. Col. Dakkan said the experiment had been successful during the last Haj season. Dakkan said the fingerprint system would be introduced with the implementation of new residence permits (iqamas).It will help identify expatriate workers quickly and reduce crimes. This system has been successfully implemented in the United States, Germany and Japan. The new Saudi passports with barcodes would help prevent forgery to a great extent.
The recent crackdown on Islamic militants has revealed that many of the stolen passports are used by Al Qaeda supporters to travel frequently within different countries. The Gulf countries have also been closely monitoring the Cyber Cafes, through which many of the floating militants used to communicating with each other. The recent controls on Internet Cafe's in some of the Gulf countries is one way of cutting off their communication lines.
Search for the deadbody of Keralite who died in Oman Sea continues.
Accident shows the fate of illegal workers.
July 26, 2002.
Two Keralites drowned and many of them escaped off Al Ashkara in the eastern region of Oman when their boat capsized in troubled water. While the dead body of 32-year-old Vijay Kumar was found, but the illegal status of the deceased has complicated the matter. The search for the body of the second victim, Krishna Kutty Mohan, is continuing. It may be recalled that recently another Keralite has also died due to drowning when he went on a picknic trip.
Al Ashkara is about 15km from Jalan Bani Bu near Sur, in the Sharqiya region of Oman. One deadbody was kept in the mortuary of the Bani bu Hassan Hospital.
According to sources, the Indian embassy has already contacted Oman's Foreign Affairs Ministry to expedite the matter of sending Vijay Kumar's body back to his hometown and intensify search for the body of Mohan. The Indian embassy have been assured by the Royal Oman Police that they would intensify the search for the second body once the weather conditions improve. Mohan hails from Chavra in Kollam district. Vijay Kumar from Trivandrum and was a bachelor. It is believed that they were on a fishing trip. Expatriates in Oman are banned to do so but most come via sea route without legal documents and are hired by Omani boat owners. When such accidents hit them, they will try to depict as if they were on a 'pleasure trip."Large number of expatriates, especially from Kerala are still working without proper visa and labour cards. Even though there was an amnesty scheme in which several thousand outpasses were issued, many of them are still hanging around. Now the rush is to Dubai where there is an amnesty scheme coming up. Illegal migrants from one Gulf country crosses the boarder and reach the other country where there is an official amnesty scheme. Even if they go back, it is very easy to come back with the help of some local visa agents.
