“The embassy was informed that Leonora (not her real name) and another Filipino woman, Ofie (also not her real name), could be found at the Nisa prison in the Malaz district,” said an embassy source on Monday.

To know exactly what happened, the embassy will send a representative to the prison next week to talk to the two women. “For this purpose, the embassy will have to secure a permit from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said the source, adding that Lenora's case is complicated.

“It started in Riyadh, then continued in an isolated villa in Majma where Leonora met six other runaway women, and now back in Riyadh. It's better to talk to Leonora, who told police her name was Kristine Ali Noor, to know exactly what really happened,” he said.

He added that after Leonora was reported missing, the police found her and Ofie in a room in Majma where the former maid made her last call to the embassy and Arab News. They were with Indian nationals and condoms were found on the floor.

“The three Indians were arrested and Leonora and Ofie were taken to the Nisa prison. Arshad was not with them,” he said.

One night in January, Leonora called the embassy to say that they had left Majma, some 250 km north of Riyadh, with Arshad, a Pakistani driver. When they reached Diriyah, which the embassy believed to be Nasim, Arshad stopped the car supposedly to fetch someone.

At that point, Leonora sent a text message to Arab News, saying that “the police stopped us. We were told that a lady would come for us.” Arab News sent the message to the embassy. After that, Leonora's cell phone had been turned off.

Arshad was supposed to drop off Leonora in front of a supermarket along Exit 10 on a certain date. From there, Leonora would call the embassy and request that someone fetch her to be brought to the Bahay Kalinga, a government shelter for runaway Filipino women.

But Arshad made the trip three days earlier, arousing suspicions that he was up to something.

Until now, there's no news regarding the other women who were with Leonora in Majma.