RIYADH, 27 April 2008 — Police announced yesterday that they have arrested 431 criminal suspects, 250 other suspects involved in drug-related offenses and 1,029 illegal residents in raids over the past three months in the city.
Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman lauded the efforts, saying that such measures have helped to curb crime in the capital and its areas, a statement from the Riyadh Police said.
The Riyadh police were ordered in recent months to step up anti-crime efforts in a number of capital districts that were seeing an increase in complaints from local residents.
The raids were carried out with the coordination of several law-enforcement bodies, including the elite Special Police Force Task, beat cops from the Riyadh Municipality, and the Traffic Police. The Passport Department was involved in the processing of illegal residents captured in these raids.
In addition to the arrest of criminal suspects, police officials along with municipality employees, confiscated 290,0340 fake merchandise in a number of raids on illegal factories.
During the raids, the Traffic Police also issued 3,298 traffic violations, including expired tags, unsafe and illegal truck loading and overly tinted car windows. Local authorities have pledged to continue these elevated law-enforcement measures.
