No fewer than 1,500 Nigerians residing illegally in Saudi Arabia are to be deported by authorities of the oil-rich kingdoms.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Garba Aminchi, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Mecca on Sunday, that those affected were apprehended at various locations in the country Saudi.

He said some of them were caught engaging in criminal activities like stealing and robbery while others were apprehended for street begging or constituting a nuisance.

Aminchi added that more than 20,000 Nigerian illegal immigrants were deported by the Saudi authorities in the last 12 months for similar offences.

Aminci said most of the criminal activities perpetrated by those already deported included fraud, theft, robbery and prostitution.

He pointed out that the Nigerian Embassy in collaboration with Saudi security agencies were identifying more Nigerians residing illegally in the country with a view to deporting them.

The ambassador raised the alarm over the increasing influx of Nigerian girls into Saudi Arabia for prostitution.

He told NAN that about three different syndicates that specialised in trafficking young girls to the Middle Eastern country had been smashed.

He said some members of the syndicates and their victims were apprehended and deported to Nigeria after serving various prison terms in Saudi Arabia.

The ambassador stated that some of the arrested girls were not even Muslims but bearing Muslim names to deceive the security agencies.

He noted that Saudi Arabia was attracting prostitutes from Nigeria because of the erroneous belief that prostitution was a booming venture in the Kingdom.

Aminchi said, “It’s really booming particularly here in Jeddah.There was a time they even called our attention that there were some Nigerians roaming the streets as ‘good evening girls’. They said Nigerians, I said ‘No’.

“They said if you want to give us one week we will bring them with their passports.

The ambassador, however, noted that criminal activities by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia in recent times had reduced by about 50 per cent.

On this year’s Lesser Hajj, Aminchi said the number of pilgrims from Nigeria had increased tremendously.

He said, “What we observed is a tremendous increase of Nigerians coming for Umrah which almost doubled what we normally see in the previous years.

“One interesting thing we noticed is the behaviour of the pilgrims. Previously, there used to be chaos at the reception centres.

“People did not know what to do, how they arrange themselves, how they pursue the immigration process and procedure.

“But now, most of the Nigerians are enlightened. They know the procedures. They line up in an orderly manner and they take their turn one after the other until the last pilgrim. ”



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