RIYADH, 21 August 2007 — Police arrested on Sunday six Asian workers, between the ages of 24 and 44, who were stealing electric cables in a deserted area of the city.
According to a spokesman from Riyadh Police, the six workers were caught red-handed while trying to get away having stolen the cables. “The cables were lying on the road for maintenance work in an uninhabited area close to the city center,” said the official, adding that passersby, who witnessed the crime, telephoned police who immediately responded and arrested the men.
The spokesman said that the high voltage cables could be sold in the market and warned that purchasing stolen goods is a crime. He added that sellers and buyers of stolen goods would be severely dealt with. Thanking the public for their support, the spokesman pointed out that this was one way of curbing crime and welcomed useful information that would lead to the arrest of criminals.
In their continuing crackdown on crime, Riyadh police recently arrested two young thieves aged 18 and 19 who would snatch handbags from women pedestrians while riding a motorbike. The Al-Suwaidi police station in the city received calls from two Saudi women, who said that two men on a motorbike without license plates snatched their purses in separate incidents in different parts of the city. The two youths were later arrested.
A police swoop in the Al-Shafa district led to the arrest of 16 overstayers. A number of stores, including a poultry store, a barbershop and a laundry were shut down for not possessing health certificates. In the same district, two intoxicated Saudis were arrested — one of the men had in his possession half a liter of locally brewed alcohol. The operation also netted 22 illegal residents.
According to statistics provided by the Statistics and Research Department in the Public Security Department, Riyadh region has the highest number of reported crimes, followed by Makkah and the Eastern Province.
