ABHA, 26 January — Police in the Asir region are questioning a Saudi businessman for allegedly abusing officials monitoring trade fraud and ordering them out of his cosmetics shop in the Quba market here last week.
The businessman reportedly abused the officials when they stormed into his shop and asked him to remove replicas of the Two Holy Mosques, which the Interior Ministry had ordered to be removed from shops on religious grounds. The businessman, as well as Commerce Ministry officials, were summoned to the police station.
And informed source said the businessman accused the officials of stealing and looting and causing harm to his workers without any reason.
The sources added that the issue would be referred to the Shariah court if the two sides failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Commerce Minister Osama Faqeeh has directed the concerned authorities to issue special identity cards to members of squads monitoring trade fraud to facilitate their mission and avoid similar incidents.
Meanwhile, the civil defense department in Najran closed down 165 shops recently for violating safety rules. Col. Ahmad Al-Sheeani, in charge of public relations at the department in Najran, said department’s officers took the action after inspecting 591 commercial centers.
