According to the police, the suspects have confessed to 51 robberies in the city.
Following complaints from the robbery victims, security authorities from the criminal investigations department launched an intensified search to bring the suspects to book. The complaints were lodged at the Faisaliah, Khaldiya and Manfouha police stations in Riyadh. The police said these youths were a threat to the people and their belongings.
Those arrested were involved in various offences such as car thefts, intimidation, and robbing people of their wallets, mobile phones and calling cards, snatching women's bags, and even breaking into shops.
An official said they were using guns and other sharp weapons to frighten ordinary pedestrians on the road.
The first complaint received by the Faisaliah police station was from an Arab expatriate who had complained that four youths came and ran away with his car after threatening him with a knife. In a separate incident, four suspects had gone into a shop and had taken calling cards and SR2,000 from the cashier's counter after which they fled from the scene.
The police stations in Faisaliah Khaldiya and Manfouha had received 21 such complaints from citizens and residents for stereotyped robberies made by the alleged gang of youths.
Following the arrest, the police are conducting further investigations to find out whether those arrested were involved in other thefts too. The suspects will be produced before court on completion of police inquiry.
