AL-LAITH, 10 December 2005 — The new Jeddah-Al-Laith Highway was designed as a safe link to connect the city to the Southern Province, but a series of incidents in which travelers have been terrorized by modern-day highwaymen have motorists calling for increased police patrols.
In the latest incident, a car carrying three men tried to run a minibus carrying six teachers off the road, Al-Madinah reported.
The driver bus was able to escape, and the motive of the highwaymen remains unknown, although it could be anything from robbery or car jacking to kidnapping or murder. After a lengthy pursuit, police were alerted, but by that time the mystery car had left the highway for the anonymity of desert roads.
The incident began when the driver, bound from Jeddah to Al-Laith with six teachers on board his minibus, decided to stop at a mosque for prayer late in the evening. A car with three men appeared, signaling him to stop. He sped up the minibus with the mystery car in pursuit. By this time, his passengers were terrified, but there was still no sign of police.
Fortunately, the men gave up the chase, which gave the driver a chance to pull into a station and contact the authorities.
“The road isn’t safe, and police simply do not exist,” said bus driver Abu Fahd Al-Juhani. “I use this road because it is a shortcut unlike the old road.”
Highway police officers said they did get a report of the incident and dispatched patrols to look for the suspect vehicle but were unable to locate it.
One source said it was one of many nighttime incidents that have been reported on the desolate highway, presumably with car jacking as the goal.
Police don’t cover the new highway as much as the old highway. There have been many reports of vehicles traveling without license plates harassing drivers and trying to force them off the road. People now are calling on the police to take action.
“A big, 2005 Jeep tried to push me off the road,” said Muhammad Al-Minhali, another driver who was transporting eight teachers. “ The driver was in strange condition, and he was signaling for me to stop. I was afraid for the eight teachers with me and I sped up to escape from him. Teachers inside my car were frightened and crying, and some of them quit their jobs.”
In another incident, a driver said that two cars chased him and tried to force him to stop as he traveled through the highway’s Al-Shuaiba intersection.
“They were signaling to each other to force me to stop,” said driver Fahd Al-Juhani. “It was obvious that they were trying to kidnap the teachers. I sped up, and they chased me for several kilometers.”
Al-Juhani was surprised how police responded to his request for help.
“When I reached the police checkpoint and informed the highway authority, they refused to interfere saying that they have no business chasing the people,” Al-Juhani said. “If this is not the business of police, then whose business is it?”
