JEDDAH: A Passports Department official has said that 270 of the 300 persons who fled its deportation detention center during rioting last Wednesday morning are back in the hands of the authorities. The search continues for 30 remaining escapees. Some who fled reportedly turned themselves in to the authorities while others were located by officials, mostly in the districts of Al-Sharafiya, Al-Kandara and Al-Baghdadiya. An investigation is underway into how the incident, in which foreigners awaiting deportation caused injury to around a dozen officials, occurred. Extra security services were called to the site of the detention center at Jeddah's Old Airport when detainees, all of whom were being held ahead of deportation for overstaying the time limits of Haj and Umrah visas, called the guards and ripped up an iron fence, enabling hundreds to escape. Officers, with the aid of reinforcements from Makkah Police and Special Emergency Services, brought the situation under control and returned some inmates to detention blocks. Many escapees were returned to the center within half an hour of their flight. The Passports Department reiterated that none of the escapees are wanted in connection with criminal or security charges. On Saturday, Hussain Al-Sharif of the National Society of Human Rights criticized Jeddah's Expatriates Administration over administrative failings and promised to visit the deportation center within a week to assess the situation. “We visited the site five years ago and produced a report noting overcrowded dormitories, inadequate air conditioning and filthy toilets,” Al-Sharif said. Further criticisms in the report, which was presented to detention center management, included detainees facing long stays due to consular bureaucracy and overpriced products for inmates. The Jeddah mayoralty, meanwhile, sent officials to the center following a Civil Defense warning that its aging building was in danger of collapse. A Civil Defense report stated that the center had passed its projected 30-year lifespan.
