DAMMAM, 27 April 2004 — Police here have arrested a gang that dressed as women to rob several people in the Eastern Province over the last nine months.

The police were able to arrest a gang member — a 16-year-old youth — in a raid and, after interrogation, obtained the names of the other three members, plus a confession. Sources believe that all four youths are Saudis.

The gang has admitted that they robbed, defrauded and sexually assaulted people throughout Dammam and Alkhobar.

Police reported that the youths pretended to be women and used abayas in many instances to lure their victims. According to Al-Youm newspaper, one gang member was adept at imitating voices, including women’s.

In many cases, they lured their victims to an isolated spot where they forced them to hand over their credit and ATM cards along with the pin numbers. Later, they used them to withdraw cash from their victims’ accounts.

One victim said he was robbed one night after receiving a call from a “woman” who talked with a very educated voice and sounded as if from a respectable family.

“The woman asked me to meet her at a particular place as she wanted to talk privately about some important affair. I did not, for a second, suspect that it was a man, so I went to meet ‘her’ at the designated location,” the businessman said. When he reached the site, four people attacked him and took him to another place.

“I shouted for help but without success,” he added.

The four criminals took all his money and his ATM card and forced him to divulge the PIN number. “In the whole process I lost SR10,000 and received bruises all over my body.”

In another incident, the victim fell prey to the same tactics when he went on to meet the “lady”. This businessman did not have any money nor an ATM card with him at the time so the irritated assailants sexually assaulted him instead.

The gang was also operative in shopping malls and other public places, police said. Its modus operandi at these locations was to lure away teenagers by pretending to be women. The victim was usually taken to a secluded place where he was looted and sexually assaulted. Around 20 complaints of a similar nature were received by police.

Meanwhile, local police are also worried over the increased number of theft at Dammam Housing (Iskan). In the past month, three houses have been burgled. In the latest theft, the home of an Indian accountant was raided by thieves late at night while the family was out. The thieves entered the fifth floor apartment through a toilet window and stole electronics and jewelry worth SR50,000. The police are investigating the case.

The residents of Iskan suspect a gang is operating in the area.