Bahrain's Interior Ministry is building a string of detention centres to hold illegal residents expected to be rounded up once the amnesty expires.

The centres will be fully operational early next year when officials will conduct nationwide inspections to round up illegal residents, an Interior Ministry official revealed yesterday.

The five-month amnesty for illegal residents and workers will end on December 31, following which inspections will be stepped up, he told a meeting of the supreme supervisory committee for amnesty, held at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority headquarters, Sanabis.

Those arrested will be kept at the sheltering centres until arrangements to deport them are completed.

"Work on the centres are nearly complete and we are currently finalising the administrative arrangements required," said the official. -TradeArabia News Service