JEDDAH, 2 April — A dozing doctor was jolted awake when he felt the deadly barrel of a gun against the tip of his nose. It only took a few seconds for him to realize this was not a case of sore throat or high temperature but one of life or death.
At that late hour — one o’clock in the morning — only three people were in the building — a female nurse, the receptionist and the unfortunate duty doctor.
The event, like a scene from a serial TV thriller, occurred on Friday night at the Badruddin Polyclinic in Jeddah’s Sharafiyah district. The armed man entered the clinic after midnight.
Muhammad Al-Rabiei, the administrative supervisor of the polyclinic, said, “The brown complexioned man in white Arab dress had covered his face with a white mask and was demanding all the money in the safe.”
Upon seeing the gun at close range, the receptionist opened the safe which was almost empty.
The disappointed thief used some abusive language and threatened to kill the duty doctor, the nurse and the receptionist. He fired into the air and took a mobile phone before fleeing into the night.
According to eye-witnesses the man had been seen driving around the clinic. Someone wisely noted the license number of his car. The Kandarah police are investigating.
