Cairo: Saudi inspectors have raided and shut down an illegal warehouse of substandard car tyres in the holy city of Mecca as part of a crackdown on unsafe products.
Mounted by the Ministry of Commerce teams, the raid followed two weeks of a close watch and investigations, reported Saudi newspaper Okaz.
The ministry’s inspectors seized more than 500 substandard used tyres inside the warehouse in the Al Zaher district, north of Mecca. The raid was conducted in cooperation with the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation, the Civil Defence, and the city’s municipality.
The warehouse was run by illegal workers, who were handed over to the competent agency.
Authorities, meanwhile, summoned the facility’s owner to complete legal procedures according to the kingdom’s anti-commercial fraud law.
Under this law, commercial fraud is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison, fines of up to SR1 million, or both penalties, and deportation of the violating workers. Moreover, violators are named and shamed after final judicial rulings are issued.
In recent years, Saudi authorities have ramped up a clampdown on backstreet workshops trading in second-hand and substandard tyres, blaming them for deadly road crashes.
Fatalities resulting from traffic accidents in the kingdom have declined by more than 40% over the past nine years.
Some 4,423 fatalities were registered last year due to road crashes in the kingdom against 7,486 in 2014, Saudi newspaper Al Yaum said last month, citing a Ministry of Health report.
During the same period, injuries resulting from traffic mishaps dropped by over 33%, registering 24,002 injured persons last year against 35,843 in 2014, the report added.
