JEDDAH, 30 January 2004 — The Civil Defense Department has prepared a large fleet of helicopters to monitor the mass movement of pilgrims to the tent city of Mina today from Makkah and other parts of the Kingdom. “We will fly all over the holy sites to carry out rescue operations if needed,” Col. Abdullah Al-Maghrebi, commander of the force, said.
Fire in Makkah
Civil Defense firefighters acted swiftly to contain a blaze that broke out in a restaurant located on the ground floor of a residential building in central Makkah. A civil defense officer injured in the incident was taken to Ajyad Hospital for treatment. Col. Jameel Arbaeen, director of the department in Makkah, said an investigation had been launched to determine the reason for the fire, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported.
Drugs Seized
Security authorities at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah have seized 36,000 Captagon pills from a Bangladeshi pilgrim, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported yesterday. The banned amphetamine-type stimulant, reputedly popular among affluent youngsters across the Middle East, is clandestinely produced in southeastern Europe and more usually trafficked through Turkey. The paper said the pilgrim had hidden the drugs inside his ihram dress which he had kept in a bag. The man arrived from Dhaka on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight on Tuesday.
Fall in Phone Charges
There will be a 20 percent discount in telephone charges during the Eid Al-Adha holidays, Saudi Telecom Company announced yesterday.
Saud Al-Duwaish, vice president for mobile services, said the discounted rates would be available from 11 p.m. Saturday for 72 hours. Mobile phone charges for local calls during this period will be 40 halalas per minute at peak times, he said. International mobile calls to GCC countries will get the same discount.
