RIYADH, 26 September 2006 — Police here have reported a crime that is more befitting Mexico City or Bogota than Riyadh.

A wealthy businessman was kidnapped and held so his abductors could withdraw money from his bank, the daily Al-Riyadh reported yesterday..

Khalil Ibrahim Iyad, a 70-year-old Lebanese entrepreneur who has lived in the Kingdom for the past five decades, said he was taken to a safe house to the east of the city and forced to make out SR500,000 ($133,333) in checks to the three men who apprehended him.

The men tied up Iyad in a room. By chance, a watchman discovered Iyad 11 hours later.

“But for the timely intervention of the watchman I could have died in that dark room,” he said.

Police also managed to apprehend one of the men along with the money he had claimed from Iyad’s bank account.

Iyad, who owns a metal factory, said men claiming to be interested in doing business lured him into a trap.

“I received a telephone call last week for a bulk order to make metal doors and windows. He added that I was chosen for it because of my good reputation in the business,” Iyad said.

Having done business for so long in the Kingdom encountering virtually no incidences of violent crime, Iyad said he never suspected such a thing would happen. When he went to the house, men in masks greeted him.

“They pushed me down and another man carrying a club sat on my back and tied my hands from behind,” he said. “I was terrified and feared that I will be killed. They asked me to sign the checks I had with me.”

After the watchman released him, Iyad reached Al-Hamra police station and reported the matter.

He called his sons who had been looking for him at area hospitals.

The kidnappers’ method was similar to what has been reported in recent years in Mexico City, called “express kidnapping”.

In that crime, victims are kidnapped and held while perpetrators use their ATM cards to withdraw the maximum daily balance from the victim’s bank account over a period of days until the account is emptied. The victims are held so they don’t report their card stolen.