2,540 bottles of alcohol seized: The Saudi customs at the King Fahd Causeway linking the Kingdom with Bahrain arrested a truck driver while he was attempting to smuggle 2,540 bottles of alcohol into Saudi Arabia. The contraband was concealed in a secret compartment inside a container. The driver said he was not aware of the presence of alcohol in the truck.

Gang of ID card thieves busted: Taif police busted a gang specialized in stealing ID cards from Saudis at crowded places such as shopping centers, mosques and burial functions. None of the 10 members of the gang belonging to an Arab country carried valid residence documents. The stolen IDs were used for impersonation after tampering with the photographs in the ID, a local police source said.

Family of 33 hit by food-poisoning: Thirty-three members of a family, including infants, were admitted to hospital as they developed symptoms of food poisoning after eating dinner at a family get-together in a rest house in Afif last Thursday. They suffered from dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting and fatigue. The cause of the poisoning is not yet known. Investigations are underway.

Woman commits suicide: A woman in Hafr Al-Batin reportedly committed suicide by jumping into an underground water tank in a relative’s house. Family members noticed the lid of the water tank open when they were looking for the woman who was missing. Civil Defense personnel who searched the underground tank found her body. Relatives said she was suffering from mental disturbances.

10-year-old girl run over by speeding car: A 10-year-old girl was run over by a car driven by a secondary school student speeding to reach school in time for the examination in Rass recently. The girl fell under the car when it crashed on to a municipal truck, lost control and overturned. The girl later died in hospital.

Shop looted after fooling staff: A gang of thieves, with their leader impersonating as a police officer, robbed a shop in Taif of goods worth SR80,000 while the workers at the shop were watching. The gang leader first telephoned the workers to make them believe that he was a police officer closely following the activities of a gang of robbers who are about to enter the shop. He warned them not to intervene to stop the robbers as the police wanted to arrest them red-handed when they came out of the shop with stolen goods. So they the gang was allowed to take away all the money and valuables from the shop and speed away in a car. Only some time after the thieves had left the shop did the workers learn that they were fooled. The gang members were later arrested.

2,300 beggars arrested: The anti-beggary department in Jeddah arrested 2,300 beggars of African and Asian origin from the city recently. The beggars, 15 percent of them women and children, were found at public places such as commercial centers and traffic intersections. A large sum of money including foreign currencies was found with them. The department has intensified its activities ahead of the summer festival, which attracts beggars in large numbers.