4,935 illegals caught since start of this year
DUBAI STATISTICS REVEAL EFFICACY OF AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS
Dubai authorities caught 4,935 illegals in 181 inspections in the first eight months of the year. Of the 4,935 people caught by the Investigations Department of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs ( GDRFA), 4,336weremales and 599 were females.
The numbers were revealed by Colonel Khalaf Ahmad Al Gaith, Assistant to the General Director for follow- up on illegal residents and foreigners at GDRFA- Dubai, at a press conference attended by Maj Gen Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, director of GDRFA Dubai.
Col Al Gaith said that they have widened the scope of their inspection campaign. “We will not tolerate areas of Dubai becoming areas where illegals are concentrated. The main goal behind sending inspection patrols is to create a sense of security in the community,” he said.
The investigations department’s deportation section also received 12,471 illegals — 8,858 males and 3,613 females— from other departments in the UAE.
The department received 84 reports fromthe public through Amer hotline. “If any of the public has information that can help uswith ourwork, they can call Amer service on 8005111 and report it,” ColAlGaithsaid.
There were 580 criminal reports handled by the department. The top criminal offences by illegals was working for another sponsorwith 271 instances, followed by staying illegally in the country with 117 cases, forgery of official documents with 116 cases and employing workers not on the employer’s sponsorship with 79 cases.
Col Al Gaith said that the numbers of illegals caught has gone down, because most employers refuse to employ illegals. “This is thanks to the many awareness campaigns that we have conducted in the previous years that targeted owners of establishments. In these eight months, the awarness campaigns have reached 1,002 establishments inDubai.”
The Establishment inspection section of the investigation department also carried out inspections in 2,894 establishments in Dubai — 2,206 in Deira and 688 in Bur Dubai. In those inspections, 175 illegals were caught, of which 124 were female and 51 were males.
Joint efforts
Fifteen of these inspections were joint efforts between the department and other government bodies, such as Dubai Municipality, the Ministry of Labour, Dubai Free Zone and the Department of Economic Development.
“Sometimes our inspectors go to multiple establishments — six or seven in a row — and find no illegals, which is a great indicator that the awareness campaigns have worked,” Col Al Gaith said.
The Document Verification Department verified 26,384 passports during the last eight months, of which 605 were found to be forged.