JEDDAH, 25 December 2006 — Faris Al-Ghamdi, the 11-year-old boy who was reported kidnapped and held for more than three days, is finally back home after one of the kidnappers dropped him near a gas station 1,500 meters away from his house.
According to the boy’s father, Hamoud Al-Ghamdi, the child was able to find his way home from the gas station in the Al-Rawabi district of southeast Jeddah.
Police immediately took the child to hospital for a checkup. There were no signs of assault but he was exhausted and suffering from hunger and thirst.
Faris was reported kidnapped at about 1.30 p.m. last Wednesday from his father’s car parked on a side street near a National Commercial Bank branch in Al-Rawabi neighborhood.
Al-Ghamdi stopped at the bank to withdraw some cash. He came out from the ATM kiosk to find that the car, SR50,000 in cash left in the car and the child were missing.
Al-Ghamdi was on his way to deposit SR50,000, the proceeds from a truck sale, at another bank.
A police search found the car two hours later but there was no sign of the missing child and the money. There was no sign of a forced entry into the car either.
Faris told police that three men covering their faces got into his father’s car while he was at the bank. One of them took the money, another the child and the third drove the car away. He said that the kidnappers covered his eyes and he was not able to see where they were taking him.
The boy said that the kidnappers took him to a furnished apartment where they kept him locked in a room. They threatened him repeatedly that if he talked to police they would harm him. They gave him sandwiches and juice.
The boy said he begged the kidnappers to return him to his family. Eventually they decided to return the child to his family and chose to drop him near his house.
A doctor said that the child needs few days to gather his strength.
The father received visitors after he found his son. He refused to speculate that the kidnapping of his child and the theft were connected. “I found my child when I came back from Maghreb prayer,” he said. “He was in a very bad psychological condition. I took him to hospital where he was examined and found to be exhausted.”
Police are redoubling their efforts to find the alleged kidnappers.
