JEDDAH, 25 May — Police have arrested five expatriate workers for allegedly running a brothel in the Jeddah’s Shaabi district.
The arrests were made by the police in a joint operation with the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice.
The commission’s officials observed the suspects over a period of time after receiving complaints from Saudis and expatriates who became suspicious of the large number of men and women visiting the house in the early hours of the morning.
An informed source told Arab News that the gang was promoting prostitution among Saudis and expatriates by offering to provide them with “services”. The police also arrested a number of women who were cooperating with the gang.
The commission officials, the source added, observed the gang’s activities for about three weeks to make sure that the complaints raised against them by the public were genuine.
Police are now questioning the five suspects in an attempt to track down other members of the group. They will be handed over to the judiciary after the investigations are complete.
An Asian expatriate who absconded from his sponsor and set up a network of 30 Indonesian housemaids who had also run away from their employers in Makkah and Jeddah was arrested recently.
The illegal activities of the arrested man, who was holding a forged iqama, included arranging marriages for the maids with expatriates.
The commission receives complaints about immoral and un-Islamic activities through its offices in various parts of the city. The Court of Grievances recently sentenced a Saudi woman to 18 months’ jail and 300 lashes for exploiting another 33-year-old woman for immoral activities.
