TAIF, 1 October 2004 — Police arrested a gang of drug dealers early Wednesday in the Al-Faisaliyah neighborhood of Taif after a car chase and a two-hour shootout, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
Eyewitnesses said that they saw a number of secret police surrounding the drug gang, believed to be composed of African nationals. Police asked them to surrender but they escaped to a house and exchanged gunfire with police. According to a police source no one was injured in the shootout.
Residents said that the arrested drug dealers are not from the neighborhood; they had come from outside to hide from police.
Meanwhile, an unknown Saudi suspect fired two shots at his friend in Madiyen Al-Fahad south of Jeddah. The man, who fired the shots after an argument over the price drugs, escaped the scene and the injured man also managed to flee before police arrived.
Police later surrounded the neighborhood in search of the suspect.
They found drugs strewn in the street with bloodstains.
