TABUK, 23 February 2007 — Young Saudis and many expatriates are indulging in the lucrative trade of stealing road signs and electric box covers in Tabuk and then selling them on to metal recycling shops, reported the Al-Watan newspaper.
The thefts mostly occur late at night at locations that are less crowded. The practice is illegal but nevertheless extremely lucrative.
“They steal road signs to take the iron and aluminum out of them, and then resell them. They are financially benefiting and that is why it’s a widespread one,” said Turki Muhammad ibn Hazam, a resident of the Rawda district of Tabuk. Ibn Hazam added that a road sign that was next to his house for about a year was recently stolen.
Jubair Ali Al-Mutairi, who lives in the same district, said that road signs do have a tendency to disappear all of a sudden. Two other citizens — Hasan Al-Zahrani and Abdul Aziz Al-Shihri — also agreed that there was a big problem.
“These signs are of great importance since they direct people and guide them,” said Al-Zahrani. Al-Shihri added that a road sign and a lamppost recently disappeared from the street he lives on.
Muhammad Salman Al-Fifi said, “The number of these thefts are increasing each day. They tend to take the covers of electric boxes and road signs late at night and resell them at high prices.”
Speaking about the theft of electricity box covers, Abdullah Al-Wakla, an owner of a real estate office, said this was especially dangerous for children who play close to such boxes.
“This just exemplifies the lack of control and observation,” said Al-Wakla.
Nouh Al-Gamdi said that perpetrators tend to be plain old thieves wanting to make some money or just vandals on a mission to ruin society.
He also expressed surprise and wondered how people could commit such acts and said that it costs the government huge amounts of money to replace them.
The spokesman for Tabuk Police, Salih ibn Hamid Al-Harbi, said that the police regularly make inspections to check on the objects sold at recycling shops.
He also added that they regularly find objects that are illegally sold to recycling shops.
“Shopkeepers have admitted that Saudis and non-Saudis both bring these objects to them. Many farms in Tabuk are also used for the selling of these stolen objects. The solution is to monitor and regulate the industry to stop this illegal trade,” he said.
A source at the Tabuk Municipality said that they have not yet issued licenses for metal recycle shops since many people are making applications for locations within residential districts.
“We are getting applications for non-residential areas and will issue licenses for them soon,” he said, adding that the municipality is cooperating with the security forces to clamp down on the crime.
