JEDDAH: Security agents are questioning a Saudi man for fraudulently including the name of his wife among missing people following the Nov. 25 Jeddah deluge with the intent of getting SR1 million in compensation offered by the government for each family member that died in the flash flooding.
The man was held after the Civil Defense learned that the woman was safe and was staying with her family. The man, who belongs to the Dossary family, told Al-Madinah Arabic daily about two weeks ago that his wife was missing. On Tuesday he approached the newspaper and said he found her with an African family.
Brig. Abdullah Al-Qarni, director of the media center at the Civil Defense, said his department came to know that the man’s wife was still alive from the district chief. The African family had informed the man’s brother that the woman was staying with them after the floods.
“When the man and his brother came to inform us that his wife was found alive, we recorded their statement and reduced the number of missing people from 38 to 37. The man was then taken to security agents to question him why he delayed to inform authorities that he had found his wife,” Al-Qarni said.
He said the Civil Defense had received 11 fraudulent missing persons reports from citizens following the announcement that the government would compensate those who lost relatives in the floods. The fraud was unveiled when the missing people started coming out of hiding thinking they had fooled officials.
Meanwhile, the family of Saudi customs official Khidr Al-Sulami, is hoping that search and recovery operations will result in finding the body of their relative, who is presumed dead.
Al-Sulami’s vehicle was found near a large lake of water left behind by the flooding in Sawaed. Many locals believe that missing bodies are still under the water. Ewad Al-Sulami said his family was continuing the search for Khidr.
“Every day I come to the lake with the hope that the Civil Defense finds his body among others,” he said.
He said the recent rains had increased the water level at the lake, further complicating the search operation. He said Khidr was in the area to supervise the construction of a mosque donated by his father.
