DOHA: Law enforcement officials busted six gangs involved in inciting housemaids to run away from their sponsors, and giving them shelter, a press statement by the Ministry of Interior said yesterday.
The hideouts operated by some 21 members of the gangs in different parts of the country sheltered 83 runaway maids who didn’t have residence permits.
The gang members were also runaway workers whose residence permits had expired. All the 104 persons caught had police complaints against them.
Interior Ministry’s Search and Follow Up Department (SFD) acted on a tip-off that some gangs were inciting domestic workers to flee their sponsors.
The Department set up a team to conduct searches, locate the hideouts of the runaway workers and arrest the culprits before they could expand their illegal activities.
The SFD zeroed in on the hideouts after seeking official approval from the Public Prosecution and took into custody 83 runaway maids and 21 men who were sheltering them after influencing them to escape their employers.
All the maids are from South East Asia, while the 21 men belong to various nationalities.
During interrogation, members of the gangs confessed to the crime.
The gangs took large sums of money from the maids to provide them shelter and “protection”. The women were promised good jobs in companies.
All the arrested will be referred to the Public Prosecution for further investigation after which charges will be filed against them.
The ministry’s statement said that the SFD had busted another gang of absconding workers arresting 25.
Charges were filed against them and the court imposed a fine of QR340,000 on those who provided them shelter.
The director of the SFD, Brigadier Nasser Eissa Al Sayed, said that the inspection drives to crack down on the violators of the Residency Law will continue.
He pointed out that those arrested will be housed at detention wards at the Department that are equipped with comfortable living facilities. It is then that the cases will be referred to Public Prosecution for further legal proceedings, he added.
The Peninsula
