JEDDAH, 31 March 2004 — A police sergeant who abused his power and used his official credentials to commit an armed robbery has been sentenced to a year in jail, a Riyadh court confirmed.
The conviction stemmed from an incident which left an expatriate worker with a gunshot wound.
According to witnesses, the sergeant and two armed police officers stormed the Asian expatriate’s apartment with guns drawn and handcuffs at the ready, claiming to be secret police with a search order.
The policemen then handcuffed two workers in the apartment and beat them before stealing SR500 of their money. During the raid, a shot was fired which struck one of the victims in the foot.
The Observation and Investigation Committee, a police internal affairs investigation unit, filed a complaint in court against the police sergeant and the officers who accompanied him. The committee presented the handcuffs and police credentials used in the robbery as evidence and produced a recorded confession from one of the police officers as well as taped statements from witnesses who identified the sergeant as the leader.
Sources at the Ministry of the Interior told Al-Watan newspaper that the ministry would stand against any misuse of power by its personnel and that stiff punishment would await those found guilty.
However, some people told Arab News that a one-year sentence was not enough. Muhammad, 31, a graphics designer, said: “In the US he would have been sentenced to maybe 20. Going into someone’s house by force, robbing them at gunpoint and finally shooting them should get a longer sentence than a year.”
Majed Siraj, 29, an Indian worker, said: “This is the first time a police officer’s conviction has made the news as far as I know.”
Jeddah police have received dozens of complaints over the past year from expatriates claiming to have been robbed by the police. In most cases, the robber was not a police officer but simply a person who managed to get a police uniform — which is relatively easy to do. According to the victims, the robbers are either dressed in thobes or police uniforms.
Adele, 38, a Filipina domestic helper, was in a taxi when a man wearing a police uniform and driving a white car ordered the taxi driver to stop. As the “police officer” requested, Adele handed over her iqama for inspection. The man claimed that there was something wrong with it and she needed to accompany him in his car to the police station. Sensing something was not right, Adele told the man she wasn’t going anywhere with him and proceeded to call 999. When the man realized what she was doing, he threw her iqama down and drove away fast. Crimes of this nature involving citizens impersonating police are relatively common, according to police sources; however, crimes committed by real police are almost unheard of.
