JEDDAH, 11 November 2004 — Naif Lafi Al-Mutairi, wanted by the Al-Safa and Al-Salama district police for stabbing two people and putting a gun to another man’s head, is now in police custody.

Arab News reported on the plight of the Al-Mutairi family last week, as they held a vigil at their mother’s deathbed, unable to return home under threat of being shot by Naif.

The Al-Mutairi family had contacted the police and the Criminal Investigations Unit several times last week and requested that they come to arrest their drug-addicted brother who has allegedly been physically and mentally abusing them for several months.

“When my grandmother was dying in the hospital, my uncle threatened that he would shoot us if we came back home. He stabbed my cousin and another man in the past, and has pointed a gun at us on more than one occasion. Because of his addiction to amphetamines, he is often paranoid and treats us as if we are a mortal threat. We have been hit and humiliated by him many times,” his nephew told Arab News.

The Al-Mutairi family had turned to the police and the Criminal Investigations Unit for help during the past few weeks, but were turned away on more than one occasion, left to fend for themselves against their armed relative.

“He is the man of the house. Without his permission we can’t go in and get him,” the police told relatives on the numerous occasions they asked for help. “Besides, he has a gun and we don’t,” the police told them.

“We want him out of our lives for as long as it takes for him to get treatment. We have suffered enough at his hands and the police know it. We thought they would come take him away for a few months for the stabbing cases, but they didn’t seem to care at all,” another sister told Arab News.

“We figured while he was in jail serving his sentence, he would sober up and come to his senses, but the police didn’t want to help us get him,” she continued.

Things appeared to be at a standstill and Naif Al-Mutairi remained at home until a relative visiting from Kuwait suggested that family members contact Al-Amal Drug Rehabilitation Hospital who had plainclothes Narcotics Division officers and hospital staff at their disposal, trained in bringing in drug addicts. Within hours of the telephone call to Al-Amal, a bed for Al-Mutairi was prepared and four plainclothes narcotics police officers were dispatched to his family’s home in the Al-Ajwad district.

When the drug unit arrived, Al-Mutairi’s bedroom door was kicked in and the four officers rushed in. A small struggle ensued as Naif tried to reach for a handgun hidden under a floor tile next to a mattress.

Naif was handcuffed and shackled within moments by the five people coming to take him to rehab. As he was being marched down the stairs he was proudly shouting, “It took five of you to get me, it took five of you to get me.”

“What’s going to happen now according to what we are told is that he will stay in the hospital for two weeks to undergo treatment. But I know two weeks is not enough for him,” his sister told Arab News. “When they let him out in two weeks he will get enough drugs to make up for his two weeks abstention and then come wreak his revenge on us,” his nephew said.

“We would have all preferred that he be arrested by the Criminal Investigations Unit for the two stabbings. That would have put him in jail for a few months, which would have really given him a chance to sober up and given us a chance to mourn our mother’s death in peace,” said his sister.

“May Allah protect us in two weeks when he comes back out. The only thing that will save us is if the Criminal Investigations Division picks him up from Al-Amal Hospital prior to his release from there,” his sister added.