UAE | Crime
Ajman operation prevents children returning from school to reach home
Military vehicles cast ring of steel on Sharjah border as authorities seach for illegal workers.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:06 February 26, 2009
- Image Credit: Atiq-ur-Rehman/Gulf News
- Police and military officers keep a watch as Ajman industrial area is cordoned off. Authorities said the move was to trap illegal immigrants in the area.
Ajman: Police sealed off the industrial district of Ajman from Sharjah borderson Thursday morning, as they carried out a search for illegal workers.
Roads in and out of Ajman Industrial Area were closed at 8am, with people wanting to both enter or leave the area being turned away.
The area is still closed. Military forces and riot police with dogs were seen patrolling the area, while army helicopters circled the area.
Brigadier Ali Abdullah Alwan, chief of Ajman Police, told Gulf News that they were scouring the area for illegal workers.
"It is a hunt for illegal workers. There are many of them here. Many companies from other emirates are accommodating their workers here," he said.
Residents were in the dark of what was unfolding. "The school bus just dropped me and my seven-year-old sister here on the road. We live here in the industrial area," said Kamran from India.
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Kamran, 15, said his family live in the industrial area but police banned him and his sister and many other students from going there.
The school bus driver told Gulf News that he cannot drop any child.
"I have no idea what I will do with the children. Some of them are very small. I think I will take them back to the school," the driver said.
Kamran said his mother was at home, but she cannot come to take them.
"We called her on her mobile. She is not allowed to come to us by police. She said we have to go to our relative in Sharjah," he said.
Another resident Mohammad said he picked up his daughter from school but was banned from entering the industrial area where his house is located.
Mohammad and his daughter are now staying with his sister's house in Sharjah.
"Police and military officers told him that they have no idea when that will end up," Mohammad's sister said.
Some workers who watched the operations from a nearby area told Gulf News that they had no idea what was going on inside the area.
"We have no idea what is going on. We have seen police and military here at around 8am. We heard that they are searching for illegal workers," said one of them.
A worker at the Ajman vegetable market which is close to the area said: "Police and military came suddenly. They are armed. I live in the industrial area but I cannot go inside," he said. "I will try to cook lunch here."
An owner of a company in Sharjah said that three of his workers who were to travel back to India, missed their flight. "The workers are stuck inside," he said.
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