A story published in the local press two weeks ago exposed a serious flaw in our security system.
Three Saudis, including two girls, were allegedly killed by a Pakistani driver in a road accident in Makkah. The driver was only identified as Nayeem and the accident victims as Naif, Nada and Ihda. The accident took place as Nayeem, who was driving a truck, ran over Naif’s car on the ring road in Makkah. Nayeem fled from the scene of the accident in which the young man and the two girls died instantly.
Nayeem — who was charged with manslaughter — was supposed to appear for trial, but he never showed up. Later on, relatives of the deceased learned that Nayeem was in Pakistan, safe and sound. They were furious that Saudi authorities had apparently allowed the culprit to get out of the Kingdom before his case was settled in court.
Nayeem’s iqama and his passport were with his Saudi sponsor after the accident. This can mean one of two things. One, that Nayeem successfully fled Makkah to the Pakistan Consulate General in Jeddah and was given a new passport. Two, that he escaped with a fake passport. And three, that he turned himself in to the nearest Passports Department as an illegal resident and got himself a free ticket back to his home country, no questions asked.
If Nayeem, who was charged with manslaughter, could so easily flee Saudi Arabia and arrive safely in his home country, how many other culprits have done the same? There must be a serious flaw in our security system. We do not even have a list of criminals or suspects and their photos and descriptions in our computer systems, and that means that anyone can commit a crime here and flee the country without anyone knowing about it.
Last year, a report appeared in the New York Times. The staff reporter mentioned that among the measures taken by Saudi Arabia after Sept. 11, there were plans to establish a sophisticated retinal scan system for people who wish to visit or reside in the country. The procedure, unlike fingerprinting which is a hassle, only takes seconds. A computer system scans the bearer’s eyes and records the data. Officials would then be able to identify illegal residents and criminals in such cases. It would also put an end to passport forgery.
It’s disappointing to discover that the system is still on the “to-do” list and has not been ticked as “done”. Like so many other things here, such plans make big headlines in our local press. But when all the oohs and aahs have stopped, we never hear of them again.
A visit a few years ago to a police station in Makkah and another visit to a government office showed me how underdeveloped we are in some areas. A police station has to do deal with tons of criminal investigations and whose officers have to look through loads of paper and files to get information related to a certain case in the past. Of course, that is done manually, looking through papers page by page. Perhaps HP, which is planning to build a factory in Saudi Arabia, would be so kind as to provide a couple of computers to our government departments, including police stations.
Two years ago, I was delighted to hear to find that a court in one of our major cities started storing data in computers. Instead of waiting for someone to write down the information manually, now, amazingly, every sheikh has a computer in front of him. After telling the sheikh what you need, he looks for the document related to your issue stored in his PC. He then types your name and related info and asks you to collect the printed document from his secretary. He then double-checks it with your ID, signs it, and you’re off.
Isn’t technology beautiful?
Now if I can only persuade heads of government departments to use computers to substitute the hundreds of “in” and “out” files they have stored in their offices.
