JEDDAH, 2 May 2005 — A bottle of juice cost a supermarket owner SR13,000 last Thursday. While checking Sawa cards, a thief asked the owner to get him a juice bottle. The thief took the opportunity to steal a bag the man left on the counter containing money, ID cards, a wallet and important papers as well as Sawa cards. Two hours later, the thief called the supermarket owner and apologized. He said he had not realized that he was a Saudi and a man with family and children just like him. He promised to return everything at a prearranged time — except the money as he needed it desperately. When the supermarket owner was half an hour late for the appointment, the conscientious thief called him again to make sure he had picked up his stolen stuff. The owner found everything as arranged except the money. “I consider him a noble thief somehow. At least he returned half of the stuff”, the owner commented.
