RIYADH, 21 August — Essam Muhammad Al-Masaary, who has been reported missing for a month and whose passport was apparently forged by Majed Tarad Al-Shammary, a Saudi fugitive arrested two days ago in Kuwait, re-appeared in Riyadh on Sunday.
A reporter from Al-Watan Arabic newspaper found Masaary standing at a bus stand opposite Bathaa Hotel after receiving a tip-off from a Saudi citizen.
Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper also reported yesterday that Shammary, who was arrested by Kuwaiti police on Saturday, has been sentenced to six months in jail. It said he forged the passport of Masaary after Saudi authorities confiscated his own.
“When Masaary saw Al-Watan’s journalist he went to a telephone cabin on the pretense of making a phone call. Al-Watan stopped the man when he emerged from the cabin and asked whether he was in fact Masaary. He became angry and threatened the journalist by wielding a knife,” Al-Watan reported.
He then disappeared in a taxi.
According to Al-Watan, Shammary, 30, had been staying in Riyadh and was unemployed before traveling to Kuwait on the forged passport. Kuwaiti investigators are now questioning the fugitive to discover his purpose in the emirate.
Shammary was arrested by Kuwaiti police while he was on his way to a mosque in the Qasr region on Saturday evening. Police had earlier cordoned off the building where he was staying.
The police have also arrested two Saudis and six Kuwaitis for their alleged ties with Shammary. The arrested Kuwaitis are his cousins.
Saudi Consul in Kuwait Faleh Al-Subaie told Al-Madinah that there are a large number of Saudis in Kuwait and that some of them have dual nationality.
