Security or the Lack of Security!

JEDDAH, 24 April 2004 — Security concerns are running now at an all-time high in Saudi Arabia. Concrete blocks surround compounds to foil vehicle attacks; heavily armed vehicles guard the gates; visitors are interrogated before being permitted access. Both residents and visitors frequently encounter difficulties with the guards and are expected to produce identification. Elsewhere, however, the situation is far from encouraging.

Concerned after the latest terrorist incidents, Arab News tested the security arrangements of one prominent Jeddah hotel located on the Corniche. It left much to be desired.

A barrier, manned by two guards with radios and a wheeled mirror, protects the entrance to the hotel grounds. One guard lounged against a concrete block smoking a cigarette, looking unconcerned. The other opened the rear door of the 4X4 vehicle.

Inside were two cases, one an aluminum camera case, the other a large briefcase, both big enough to contain explosives. Beside them was a long black sleeve containing a camera tripod — very similar in appearance to a rifle case.

On the back seat of the vehicle, exposed to public view, was a large hunting knife with a 20cm blade, the kind freely available at local sports shops. In the reporter’s pocket were two 7 cm-bladed penknives.

Entering the hotel with camera case, tripod case and assorted implements in hand was simple. Access to two of the upper floors likewise went unchallenged.

A helpful member of the janitorial staff gave directions.

The reporter then proceeded unimpeded to a room on a different floor to which he managed to gain access.

To prove that he had been there he left a business card in the wardrobe. It could just as easily have been the contents of the case (in this case, cameras) or anything else.

Later, another reporter went to the hotel and told the head of hotel security what had been done.

Together they went to the room to retrieve the card. The reporter was told by the hotel management that at 7.00 p.m., “no one had entered the room since 3.35 p.m. and it had been the guest.”

The first reporter had entered at 5.35 p.m., unseen and unrecorded.

After the card was found, the head of security, clearly shaken by the ease with which security arrangements had been breached, explained, to the reporter’s amazement: “We don’t have the right to search anyone entering the hotel.”

He gave only one exception, a check on guests’ electronic room keys if they return to their rooms after midnight.

Yet less than 24 hours earlier, the hotel’s central management had ordered security precautions to be intensified.