JEDDAH, 6 July 2004 — Bystanders looked on for 20 minutes as a Saudi attempted to steal an automated teller machine before the police were called, eyewitnesses said.
A witness working at a nearby gas station said the man, dressed in a thobe and ghutra and riding a bulldozer, approached the National Commercial Bank ATM on Prince Majed Street around 3.30 a.m.
“His face was covered, but he told me he worked for the municipality,” the witness, a Bangladeshi, said. “The ATM was encased in concrete with two iron pillars in front. He started hitting the concrete to access the machine,” he said.
“After hitting it a few times, he moved on to tackle the ceiling. Then he lifted the shovel and tried to access the machine from between the iron pillars.
“For 20 minutes, people watched him doing this from their windows and balconies.”
When it became apparent that the suspect was not from the municipality, the Bangladeshi called the police, causing the man to flee leaving the bulldozer and ATM behind.
Police kept guard of the ATM machine until NCB officials arrived around 9 a.m. According to Okaz Arabic daily, a bank official said all ATMs were equipped with an alarm system.
Most of the onlookers approached by Arab News were reluctant to talk. However, Mohammad Al-Asiri said, “It was the noise of the banging that brought us and our neighbors to our windows. It was disturbing. But it never crossed my mind that we were watching a theft,” he said.
“With all that’s happening this is the last thing we need,” he added, in reference to a spate of terrorist attacks in the Kingdom that began in May 2003.
