RIYADH, 30 September 2004 — Three teenage sisters, visiting Bahrain from Saudi Arabia, absconded to Holland without their parents’ consent. The reason behind the mysterious disappearance of the runaway girls, who were carrying their passports, is not known.
The girls, who were visiting Bahrain with their family, told their parents — who were in a shopping mall — that they were going to watch a movie and would be back when it was over. However, the girls failed to return and their 51-year-old father reported them missing to the police. He also reported the family’s Saudi-registered car missing, which was later found parked in the carpark of another supermarket.
Investigations have revealed that the girls drove the family car to Bahrain airport and abandoned it there before boarding a flight. No further details were available.
The Dutch Embassy here referred inquiries to the Netherlands mission in Bahrain. The mission in Bahrain could not provide information.
The sudden disappearance of the girls has also left a question mark over their fate. A large number of Saudi and expatriate families visit Bahrain from Saudi Arabia especially on weekends or during vacations.
This is not the first time that teenagers or children have left the Kingdom without the parental consent or have gone missing. In a similar case reported recently, a 10-year-old Saudi boy, Abdullah Hassan, who had been missing for the last few years, returned to his family. Abdullah was abducted and taken to Yemen, where he worked as a scullery boy.
In another case, Yemeni authorities arrested six members of a gang while they were trying to smuggle 21 children into the Kingdom, probably for abuse and beggary. The culprits, believed to be members of a wider network, were arrested at the Haradh border post a couple of years back.
In March 2003 two unidentified children, who were found by police patrols in Jeddah, were admitted to a social care center until such time as their parents could make contact and collect them.
