BAHRA, 19 January — Police arrested Thursday night a Saudi youth who fled after shooting to death two expatriate workers at a taxi company office in north Jeddah on Wednesday.
Muhammad Saeed Al-Ghamdi shot the two expatriates — an Indian and a Yemeni — when they prevented him from entering the office of a Saudi businessman, whom he apparently wanted to kill.
Witnesses told Arab News that the alleged murderer tried to storm into the taxi company’s office belonging to the businessman with the aim of killing him or one of his sons, following an argument with company workers.
However, the businessman was not present in the office, and his son escaped injury by hiding under a table.
Maj. Gen. Saeed Al-Qahtani, director of Makkah police, said the man then sped off in a car.
Informed sources say the dispute between the murderer and the businessman erupted when the latter appointed two expatriate workers to the taxi company, located close to the Falak roundabout in Jeddah.
Police combed the city soon after the incident and within a few hours they had located the man’s hide-out. They laid siege to the area.
Police said the killer was in a mountainous area in Bahra, about 40 kilometers northeast of Jeddah. They eventually arrested him late on Thursday night.
The Indian shot dead in the incident was identified as Muhammad, 48, from Perinthalmanna in the south Indian state of Kerala. Witnesses said the Saudi youth also tried to kill Muhammad’s relative, Hasainar, who escaped by hiding behind a car.
Sources close to the businessman and the killer — they are relatives — told Arab News that the youth has been a drug addict and had received treatment at Al-Amal Hospital in Jeddah. He later went to Afghanistan, where he received military training in preparation to join the jihad there. But he returned to the Kingdom because of some mental problems.
His brother refused to reveal any information about the youth. But his relatives said the conflict was related to the Saudization of jobs at the company.
