JEDDAH, 30 November 2003 — Saudi Arabia will get tough on car thieves following reports that suicide bombers and other militants used stolen vehicles to carry out terrorist attacks.
“Car thieves will be taken to court as the crime is tantamount to causing discord on earth,” Brig. Fahd Al-Bishr, director of the Traffic Department, said. But the brigadier blamed negligent car owners for most thefts.
Referring to the truck bomb attack on Nov. 8 at the Al-Muhaya Compound in Riyadh, Al-Bishr said the terrorists themselves must have painted the truck military brown. “No workshop would dare to do it,” he told Okaz Arabic daily.
The truck, packed with more than a ton of explosives, had been painted dark brown and marked with military insignia. Press reports said the attackers were able to get through a National Guard checkpoint near the compound because their vehicle had military markings.
“Owners must get special permission from the department to change the color of their cars,” Al-Bishr said, adding that they could change the color at any licensed workshop. The interior minister or governors would determine punishment for those who violate the rule, he added.
The traffic chief urged Saudis and expatriates to take extra precautions to protect their vehicles from thieves and inform police immediately when they lose their vehicle or its number plates. “Most thefts have occurred as a result of the negligence of car owners,” he said.
“Some people leave their vehicles near shops while they buy things while others leave them unsecured, making them easy targets for car thieves.”
He said Japanese cars made particularly easy targets for thieves.
Official statistics released by the Riyadh police indicate that 3,341 car thefts took place in the capital in a single year. Overall, a total of 19,149 vehicles were reported stolen in Riyadh during the last 10 years.
According to a study conducted by the Anti-Crime Research Center in the Interior Ministry, the majority of car thieves in Saudi Arabia are either students or unemployed youth, who take them for joyride.
The study revealed that the number of Saudi and foreigners arrested or awaiting sentence for car theft was 1,225 — 844 Saudis and 381 foreigners. More than two-thirds of this number were amateurs and pranksters who used the cars for joyrides.
Nearly half of the car thieves included in the study were of poor financial status. The ages of most thieves ranged from 18 to 24, with minors falling in second place. About 75 percent of car thefts took place in the Makkah and Riyadh regions and the Eastern Province.
