legal residents or Saudis who try to enter Makkah without Haj permits are not being arrested. They are stopped at the checkpoint and asked to return.

JEDDAH: Coming to Makkah is neither easy nor cheap. Taxi drivers and people driving their private cars are taking advantage of the Haj season to increase fares. These drivers demand high fare from those who do not have permits but want to perform Haj. At the bustling bus station in Jeddah downtown, where drivers converge to shuttle pilgrims to the holy city, a pilgrim with a Haj permit can expect to pay up to SR100 for travel to Makkah. For those intending to perform Haj without permit, these drivers ask for a hefty amount and may come down a little after negotiation. Taxi drivers also converge on Kilo 10 of the Old Makkah Road to pick up such pilgrims. Pilgrims who want to perform Haj but do not have permits or iqamas find people who smuggle them into Makkah. Such drivers are a few and they know the roads that lead to the holy city bypassing security checkpoints. The cost of smuggling these pilgrims starts from SR1,000 per person and can go considerably up. Fadlulrahman Abadi, a Sudanese pilgrim who works in the Kingdom, said he didn’t want to pay the SR2,500 fee that Haj tour operators were charging. “The high cost of Haj has forced many people, including me, to take the risk of getting smuggled into Makkah,” he said. “I’ve heard that it is more difficult this year (to sneak into Makkah) and that the police are vigilant and strictly applying the rules and regulations.
Abadi said given the high cost of performing Haj legally this year, he would again try to sneak into Makkah next year illegally. Nuruldeen Mahmoud, an Egyptian who wanted to perform Haj with his wife and two daughters, said he could not pay SR12,000 to obtain the permits to perform Haj. “I cannot manage this amount of money even if I save half my salary every month,” he said. read full story..............