More than 1,000 runaway housemaids have been caught in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Sharjah in the first quarter of 2010, officials have announced.
Inspection teams of the Violators and Foreigners Follow up Section at the Ministry of Interior seized 1,094 housemaids who now face deportation after running away from their sponsors.
Brigadier Nasser Al Awadhi Al Minhali, acting assistant undersecretary for naturalisation, residency and ports affairs at the Ministry, said campaigns would continue to crack down on the absconding housemaids.
He said in comments published by news agency WAM that the Ministry was in talks with embassies and consulates “to facilitate the deportation procedures of the housemaids to their home countries”.
Al Minhali added that inspection campaigns and raids would “continue day and night” in a bid “to eradicate the remnants of infiltrators and violators”.
Colonel Saeed bin Rakan Al Rashidi, director of the Violators follow-Up Section at the department, said that the inspection teams seized 582 runaway maids in Abu Dhabi during the first four months of this year, 242 in Al Ain and 270 in Sharjah.
He said the investigation revealed that most of runaway housemaids fled to get additional work illegally.
The penalty for hiring or housing an illegal immigrant is a fine of Dhs100,000 ($27,000), a minimum of two months in prison and deportation for non-citizens. A person who hires a foreigner they did not sponsor faces a fine of Dhs50,000.
