JEDDAH, 12 October 2006 — Police are looking for a gang of suspected qat smugglers who assaulted two Saudi border guards in the south of the Kingdom after the border guards pursued the gang for illegally crossing into the Kingdom from Yemen. “The governorate office has sent a letter to police departments across the At-Tuwal Province to arrest the people who assaulted the two police officers,” said a police source speaking to Arab News.
A pickup truck had suspiciously entered the Kingdom from Yemen at an unmanned entry point and was intercepted by Saudi border guards who chased the truck into the Al-Tuwal Province and into residential areas. “The border guards were forced to fire warning shots to stop the smugglers from continuing the chase inside the neighborhood,” said a police spokesman, who added that during the chase of the pickup a car with two Saudis inside pulled in front of the border guards’ vehicle and stopped the pursuit.
“The two Saudis then attacked the border guards and ripped their clothes. We feel that the Saudis were part of the same gang. This helped the pickup truck escape,” added the police spokesman.
The Police Department issued an alert to secure roads in the area in order to locate the pickup truck and the two men who had assaulted the border guards. The police spokesman told Arab News that the police are going to intensify inspections in the Masfak area — an area where drugs are commonly smuggled from Yemen. “We will continue our investigations until we find the people behind this,” he said.
