JEDDAH, 19 February 2004 — Security officers are questioning some 24 expatriate workers, the majority of them Bangladeshis, for gambling in the industrial city of Yanbu.
Preliminary investigations showed that the gambling network, which also had branches in Jeddah and Madinah, was run from abroad.
Officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested the gamblers with SR21,000 recently and said the expatriates met twice monthly to gamble.
According to the report, the commission members raided the gamblers’ hideouts in Seeh and Sinayiah districts of the city after receiving a tip-off from a disgruntled gambler.
They arrested 14 Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis with SR14,000 in one location and 10 Bangladeshis with SR7,000 from another place.
The paper said all the arrested held valid resident permits, adding that police were looking for an Indian expatriate who usually declared the winners.
The commission urged Saudis and expatriates to inform them about such illegal activities in the Kingdom.
Islam prohibits gambling. “It is not lawful for a Muslim to seek recreation in gambling, nor is it lawful for him to acquire money by it,” said Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi.
“Gamblers develop hatred and enmity toward one another, although they may claim that losing does not trouble them. There is always a winner and a loser. The loser may seem composed, but behind his composure there is frustration and anger,” he said.
The commission has stepped up its activities throughout the country after the government increased the commission’s annual budget to SR332.6 million, up 13.25 percent from last year, in a bid to strengthen the organization.
Commission officials have been given reorientation course to make them more efficient and improve their interpersonal skills.
