Dentistry tools, medicines and cash seized from an illegal practitioner in Makkah. (AN photo by Badea Abu Al-Najah)

MAKKAH, 3 January 2008 — A gang of five young pickpockets, all Burmese nationals between the ages of 10 and 14, was recently arrested in Makkah.

According to police, the children had been targeting pilgrims and had snatched over 300 cell phones and a large number of women’s purses. Police said the group was also found in possession of an unspecified amount of money.

“Following reports about a spate of thefts in the area, Makkah police began gathering information about the gang and secretly followed one of the children for a number of days. Officers were able to confirm their suspicions and the boy was arrested and questioned,” said a police spokesman.

“The boy confirmed that he was a pickpocket and part of a larger gang. He showed us who the other members were and the entire gang was arrested and brought to the Al-Mansour Police Station for further questioning,” said the spokesman. He said that the gang would gather each day at a location under Makkah’s Al-Sulaimaniya Bridge and share what they had stolen in the day.

According to the gang’s 14-year-old head, the group had been operating since Ramadan and focused on robbing pilgrims, especially women.

The pickpockets would loiter in the Grand Mosque’s toilets and stand on streets and roads leading to the prayer complex.

Meanwhile, police recently arrested a Syrian man, who had been illegally practicing dentistry in Makkah for a number of years. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the man while he was busy removing a tooth of a patient.

The man was found to have SR16,000 in his possession.

Arab News was given access to the man in custody. “In normal days I would earn around SR8,000 a day and in the peak season I would earn around SR18,000 a day,” he said.

When asked how he had managed to avoid arrest for such a long time, the man said, “Most of my patients are illegal overstayers and I tend to operate in remote areas. That’s how I managed to evade the authorities.”

Police also recently raided an illegal telephone booth operated by an Asian overstayer from an old apartment in the Jebal Al-Hind area of the city.

Police arrested the man and 12 customers, and confiscated a number of equipment used to make illegal telephone calls. Five of the people arrested were found to have fake iqamas, the rest were overstayers. Those arrested have been handed over to the Passport Department’s forgery section for further investigation.