tech equipment used by the Expatriates Administration in Makkah Region has uncovered 80 domestic maids who escaped from their sponsors, authorities said. The women, who had alleged that they entered the Kingdom on Haj and Umrah visas, made detailed confessions regarding their real names and identities and their attempts to escape from the Kingdom, according to authorities. Lt. Col. Muhammad Muflih Al-Otaibi, head of the Detention Section in the Expatriates' Administration, said checking fingerprints has also uncovered 390 violators who tried to deceive the administration's staff by saying that they were overstayers. He pointed out that his organization has registered 14,068 sets of fingerprints. Col. Hussein Al-Harthi, director of the Expatriates Administration in Makkah Region, has warned against employing or providing shelter to violators of residency or labor regulations. He said some families are violating the regulations by employing runaway housemaids during the holy month of Ramadan despite knowing of their illegal status. Employing people who violate labor and residency regulations is illegal and those who do so will be held accountable and punished, Col. Al-Harthi stressed. He added that benefiting from the services of escaped workers and violators of residency and labor regulations has adverse effects on security and can threaten families' safety. As Ramadan draws near, Col. Al-Harthi called on people to not sympathize with beggars. He said the majority of beggars are members of organized networks that work to win people's sympathy, exploit their kindness and get their money. They exploit the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are even kinder and more generous to the poor and needy, he added. People in several organized begging networks have been arrested in earlier operations and investigations determined that they were collecting money for illegal purposes, Col. Al
