“The gang used a taxi to carry out various thefts in the city. They were arrested after a police patrol in the Sharafiyah district became suspicious of the car in which a woman was sitting in the front while two men were in the back trying to hide,” said Col. Misfar Al-Juaid, spokesman for Jeddah police. “The patrol stopped the taxi, searched the vehicle and found the two men hiding in the back. Officers also found stolen cell phones, purses, cash and narcotics,” he said, adding that during questioning one of the four admitted to robbing and mugging members of the public in malls in the northern parts of Jeddah and in Sharafiyah. They also admitted to stealing goats, which they sold. Col. Saad Al-Ghamdi, director of Jeddah’s police patrol, said police patrols can now search suspicious taxis following new instructions issued by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed.