Saudi authorities have deported more than 385,000 illegal residents from the country over the past nine months, according to monthly statistics released by a campaign called the Nation Fee of Illegal Expats.
Officials said the ongoing crackdown as part of the nationwide campaign, which was launched on Nov. 15, 2017, managed to arrest as many as 1,523,124 violators of the systems of residency, labor and border security until Thursday.
As part of the campaign, in which 19 ministries and government departments are participating, 385,499 of the detainees were deported to their respective home countries during the period.
The report said 25,712 people were caught while attempting to sneak into the Kingdom across its southern borders. About 54 percent of the infiltrators were Yemenis, 43 percent Ethiopians and the remaining 3 percent constituted people of various nationalities.
As many as 1,111 people were stopped while trying to leave the Kingdom illegally, it added.
According to the report, 2,332 people were accused of providing accommodation and transport to a number of illegal expatriates.
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They included 489 Saudis of whom 469 were interrogated, punished and released while the remaining 20 Saudis are still under custody and are awaiting the completion of investigations.
A total of 12,203 illegal expatriates are currently being held in various detention centers in the country. They include 10,633 men and 1,570 women.
The report said 212,838 were referred to their concerned embassies and consulates to issue them with travel documents while 261,872 are finalizing deportation procedures.
