49 Shops Probed for Fake Work Permits Last Year

Gulf Insider

02-04-2025

Nearly 30,000 medical emergencies, more than 14,000 family protection cases, and dozens of shops suspected of peddling fake work permits were recorded over the past year, as pressure mounted on emergency services and police identified a drop in crime across the south.
Interior Ministry figures show the operations room fielded 2,253 calls in February alone.
Around 60 per cent were emergency cases, 35 per cent traffic-related, and the rest security matters.
Coastguards responded to 39 reports that month.
Four were involved maritime accidents, while 13 were assistance calls. Twenty-two came from boats stranded or needing rescue.
Civil Defence handled 1,262 incidents.
Requests
Over 580 were requests for help, and there were 164 fires. Trees, lamp-posts or road signs had come down in 33 cases. Another 122 calls were traffic-related.
Ambulance services were stretched even further. Paramedics responded to 4,719 reports in February.
Nearly 30,000 medical incidents were logged in the year to date.
Accidents
There were also 444 traffic accidents, 867 patient transfers from private hospitals, and 411 other incidents, including 18 fires.
Police in the Southern Governorate recorded 18,338 reports over the past 14 months. Of those, 15,986 were logged in 2024. The rest came in January and February this year.
Criminal cases made up just over 7,300, with a similar number of administrative complaints. Another 1,300 or so fell into a third category.
Crime
Police say crime is falling in the area. They credit regular patrols and public trust.
Common offences include assault, theft, bouncing cheques, breach of trust, deliberate damage, and unlawful stay.
Family and Child Protection Offices in the southern region recorded 14,900 reports from January 2024 to February 2025. Last year alone, they dealt with 553 domestic violence cases and 772 family disputes. There were 11 missing persons.
Domestic violence
In the first two months of this year, there were 63 domestic violence reports, 90 family rows, and one person reported missing.
The offices say they take legal and security steps to protect women and children and to keep families together.
Elsewhere, 49 commercial shops were investigated last year over suspected fake work permits. Cases were passed on to the relevant bodies.
Police also picked up 116 expat workers in breach of residency or labour rules.
Worker housing
A separate taskforce was formed to inspect worker housing – both unregulated and authorised.
The team includes police, health officials, civil defence, the Electricity and Water Authority, the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and the Southern Governorate.
They held regular meetings and ran 16 joint inspections in 2024. Twenty-nine buildings were flagged.
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