More than 1,000 illegal workers have been tracked down by authorities in the first half of this year, it emerged yesterday. A total of 536 expats were caught working for 329 Bahraini employers without proper documents by Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) inspectors.

They were rounded up during 5,980 raids across the country, said LMRA enforcement vice-president Younis Al Hermi.

In addition, he said 511 expatriate workers were caught without proper documents during 76 raids in co-operation with the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry and the Interior Ministry.

Of those, 392 were taken into custody. Procedures are now underway to repatriate the illegal workers.