JEDDAH, 26 October 2005 — A gang of thieves arrested this week by police were planning a large bank raid. Police said that along with stolen goods in their possession they had a detailed plan of operation for staging a large bank robbery. Investigations are still under way, they said.
The gang is specialized in robbing warehouses and offices and the police had been on their trail for some time. Police said they had received a number of reports of different robberies conducted on the same pattern. The gang would survey the area, time the operation perfectly, attack the guard and move stolen goods.
The four-member gang consisted of Africans. They stole from a number of warehouses in a four- to six-month period in different areas in south Jeddah. Police found large amounts of stolen goods worth hundreds thousands of riyals in their possession. Official figures still have to be released. Not all the goods stolen were recovered as some of them had been sold, police said.
Police, after analyzing the trend of the gang, set up surveillances in warehouses and offices which they expected the gang to hit. The gang was caught in action in one of the suspected targets police were watching.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing security sweep, police apprehended 1,217 overstayers in Aziziya and Bawadi districts yesterday. Dozens of shops found to be unclean were closed down during the raid.
