The arrested are bundled into a police van.

Riyadh police on Friday arrested 365 foreigners overstaying their visas in the second operation in a week.

The police raids were conducted on the directives of Riyadh Gov. Prince Turki Bin Abdulllah bin Abdul Aziz in a bid to curb crime rates, including theft, sorcery, liquor-brewing and other illegal activities.

Police also arrested several runaway Ethiopian housemaids who had been hiding in these districts.

The operations were carried out in the Manfouha, Rawdah, Malaqa and Masif districts on Friday.

Police combed construction sites, abandoned buildings, market places, malls and streets for child beggars and others illegal residents during the roundup.

The raid was carried out for 24 hours from dawn.

According to a police official, most of those arrested included people who have overstayed their Haj or Umrah visas and have come to the capital from Jeddah.

In a separate operation, police caught a Pakistani worker red-handed as he was removing an air conditioner from a house in the absence of its tenants.

According to an official, the arrest of the man led to the identification of three others of a group that operated as a gang to steal building material from construction sites.

The gang had hidden the stolen items in a warehouse in the Sahafa district in the north of the capital. Stolen items included copper cables, air conditioners and building materials.

 
[wpResize]