MAKKAH: A Saudi man in his 30s was arrested on Sunday in connection with the killing of a Saudi man in his 60s who ran a vegetable shop in the Faisalyiah produce market in Makkah’s Maabdah district.
Acting Makkah city police spokesman Maj. Zaki Al-Rihaili said police initiated a manhunt after the victim, a former security officer by the name of Waqait Al-Malki, who worked as a market vendor in his retirement, was shot three times from a moving vehicle in a mafia-style hit that killed the old man instantly. The search took 10 hours and led authorities to a remote village in an area known as Al-Fawwarah east of the city.
Abdullah Al-Malki told Arab News that his brother was a peaceful man and had no enemies except for the drug smugglers he fought to arrest in his 27-year career as a security officer. Police say they do not yet have a motive for the hit.
‘Sorcerers’ jinxed by commission>
In other Makkah crime news, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested a man and his 28-year-old son in possession of 28 talismans, animal hides, rings and teeth they were using in a confidence racket to exploit their victims’ superstitions by reading verses of the Holy Qur’an over the objects. The two men that the commission called “sorcerers” were handed over to the police for prosecution.
Sheikh Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Matrafi, the head of the local precinct for the religious police told Arab News that he recited verses from the Qur’an to undo the black magic put on the talismans.
