JEDDAH: A number of people have complained about an increase in mugging incidents in and around Jeddah allegedly being carried out by Nigerian and other African nationals.

“My mother, who is in her late fifties, was coming down the steps of her apartment building to get in a car last week when an African man grabbed her purse and pulled her to the ground,” said R. A., a Saudi who did not want his name published. “Since she had held the purse tightly, the mugger hit her on the head and ran off with the handbag that had SR2,000 in it.”

Ghalia Bashir shared a similar story.

“I was walking with my mother in Al-Mushrafah district near a shopping mall when one of the men in an old car grabbed my mom’s purse while speeding past us,” she said. “My mom, who has always been fearful of such attacks, had wrapped the strap of her purse around her fingers and when the mugger pulled the handbag, he nearly pulled apart two of my mother's fingers. We immediately took her to a nearby polyclinic where they treated her. The robbers got away with the purse, which contained only 20 riyals. We were out for window shopping and so didn't have much money,” she said. Another victim of a similar assault shared his experience with Arab News.

“I was in a queue outside an ATM after Isha prayers talking to someone on my cell phone when an African man punched me in the face, grabbed my phone and ran away,” said Hamza Mohammad, 34. “I was shocked and immediately called the police. They said they have had a lot of complaints about this type of attacks.”

Mohammad said one police officer told him of an incident. He said the police officer chased a Nigerian who had robbed a woman in Rawdah district.

“When the cop caught the Nigerian, the man pulled out a knife and threatened to stab him if he did not release him. The cop released the mugger who ran off with the purse still in hand.” Mohammad said when he asked the police officer why he didn't use his firearm against the assailant, the officer explained that he is not supposed to use his gun without prior permission from his superior. He said he would have been jailed instead of the mugger if he had used his firearm.”

“I think putting restrictions on cops on the use of firearms even in a life-threatening situation is not appropriate,” Mohammad said.