Sharjah: Sharjah Police have arrested an allegedly unmarried couple who lived together and are thought to have had two children out of wedlock.
An official at Sharjah Police said the arrest came two days after the launch of a campaign targeting couples who live together illegally.
Within the same week of the campaign's launch, which is carried out throughout the emirate, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Sharjah Police were told of a couple who lived in Al Qadasia area for several years.
"We are first targeting areas that have a reputation of housing many illegal residents and infiltrators, as well as couples who are not officially married," he said.
When police raided the area of Al Qadasia, they immediately asked residents for their identification documents in addition to marriage certificates from couples.
"We were soon able to arrest the couple, an Arab man and an Asian woman, who were illegally living together with their two children," he said, adding that the children were aged two and four.
Unmarried couples living together is illegal in the UAE.
Police say the Arab man confessed that he was illegally staying with the woman and posed together as husband and wife, even though they never formalised their marriage.
Police referred the file to the Public Prosecution.
