Sixty-four-year-old Raja Abdul Sattar, a long-time resident in Saudi Arabia, was robbed by “four Arabic-speaking young men.” The money was part of his end-of-service benefits.
Abdul Sattar was to leave on a final exit on Thursday after working in the Kingdom for 34 years. He said he went to the Samba branch located in the upscale Dammam Corniche district at 9:30 a.m. “I told the teller to make a draft of the amount for me. He told me that since I do not have an account with Samba that was not possible. He then proceeded to draw the cash for me. I was feeling jittery at handling such a big amount of cash.”
Abdul Sattar says when the teller was counting the cash he requested SR500 notes so that it would be easier to carry. “The teller told me he only had SR100 denominations. I became even more nervous.”
He said he left for his home in Dammam’s Adama district when he became aware of a car following him.
“There were four youngsters in it. The car followed me to my home. When I got out I locked my car and immediately rushed toward my flat. Just then two of the youngsters pounced on me. They rained heavy blows on me and took out sharp, long knives.”
He said he resisted as best as he could, but they then punched him so hard on his nose it started bleeding.
“In that moment they snatched the wads of money and ran toward their car. The envelope was torn. They went to their car which was parked at a little distance away. They probably counted the cash and perhaps knew that I had SR136,800. Realizing that they did not have it all two other guys came up and bashed me again and took the remaining cash.”
He said there were people around, but the men’s knives scared them.“However, two of them volunteered to give a statement to the police. We went to Dammam South police station and registered a complaint. Nobody, however, had taken the car plate number.”
Police registered a case and launched a manhunt for the criminals. They have asked the bank to provide the police with CCTV footage to look for possible clues.The news sent shockwaves among the sizable Pakistani community in the Eastern Province. “We feel very sad at what has happened,” said community elder Bashir Bhatti. “He is a very honorable man, and all of us are doing all we can to help him cope with this ordeal.”
Abdul Sattar, who comes from Chakwal in Pakistan’s Punjab district, worked as a fleet sales supervisor at Abdullah Hashim Co. Ltd., the Kingdom’s Honda vehicle distributor.
