"The pistol was a plastic gun and the little girl was the man's own youngest daughter," acting Jeddah police spokesman First Lieutenant Nawwaf bin Nasser Al-Booq was quoted by the paper as saying.

The spokesman said the incident took place a few days back. He said the police operations room received information from vacationers on the Jeddah Corniche that a man wearing a Saudi thobe was holding a gun in his right hand and a young girl with his left one.

Al-Booq said security patrols on the Corniche immediately rushed to the scene only to discover that the gun was a plastic toy and the girl was the man's own youngest daughter. He said the man, who did not hurt anyone, raised his hands and surrendered peacefully when he saw the police.

The spokesman said the man suspected two men who happened to be on the Corniche at the time of being behind the disappearance of his 18-year-old daughter.

Al-Booq recalled that Tabuk police had reported the disappearance of the man's eldest daughter. The man thought that the two young men who appeared on the video clip were responsible for that.

Al-Booq said the man was arrested and handed over to the Prosecution and Investigations Commission for further questioning. "No one else was detained. The investigations will reveal more details of the case," he said.