Hajj 2015: Thousands Of Smugglers, Vehicles With Illegal Pilgrims Caught By Security Agencies

Thousands of people have been found to have violated Hajj laws, the chief of media and information at the Public Security Agency said.

Col. Sami Al-Shwairekh said that 12,850 people had been caught violating Hajj laws and regulations. He said that 35,900 vehicles with illegal pilgrims and 1,295 smugglers had been either arrested or sent back. Al-Shwairekh said at a press conference in Mina that 58 fake Hajj offices had been identified in different locations of the Kingdom, Arab News reported.

According to Undersecretary of the Ministry of Hajj Hatem Qadi, the ministry has confirmed that camps in Mina and Mount Arafat are ready to receive pilgrims.

“We are still scanning the pilgrims’ camps in Madinah to make sure that everybody has moved to the holy capital,” Arab News quoted Qadi as saying. “Camps are ready to receive pilgrims tomorrow in Mina, and more than 95 percent of the camps for pilgrims in Arafat were handed to pilgrims.”

Qadi said more than 1,150,000 liters of Zamzam water had been transferred to Makkah. He provided a toll free number 8004304444 which pilgrims and supervisors could use to ask for whereabouts of delegations and pilgrims.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims started traveling Tuesday from Makkah to Mina. Around two million pilgrims from all over the world are expected to attend Hajj 2015. A recent crane collapse apparently does not have any negative effect on the enthusiasm of Muslim devotees who hold the annual gathering in extremely high esteem.

"It is a gift from God that He has chosen us to come here," Khaleej Times quoted a 35-year-old Egyptian pilgrim as saying. "I am so happy to be here."