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- GRAPEVINE, Page 21Death and Taxes
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- By PAUL GRAY/Reported by David Ellis
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- Each year Saudi Arabian border guards monitor transports
- carrying Muslim pilgrims back from Mecca. The purpose is to
- discourage any of the 2 million or so visitors from staying on
- illegally; a fine of 1,604 riyal (about $430) is levied for
- each person recorded as entering the country who does not
- appear on a checklist of those leaving. This year companies
- bearing the Turkish faithful home have so far been forced to
- pay some 200,000 riyal ($54,000) for no-shows. The trouble is,
- almost all of them were probably among the 1,426 killed in the
- July 2 tunnel disaster. The Turkish government is complaining
- that Saudi officials hastily interred many of the victims in
- mass graves without identifying them; since no death
- certificates were issued, it was impossible to prove to
- authorities that people were not going out of the country
- because they had been buried in it.
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