Police arrest 15 members of theft gang

CRIME DOES NOT PAY: Some of the members of the gang who were arrested. (AN photo)

RIYADH: Police nabbed a 15-member gang who were involved in more than 80 thefts in the capital on Thursday.
Col. Fawaz Al-Maiman, media spokesman for the police in the Riyadh region, said that there was a spate of complaints against this gang which was involved in a chain of robberies. The suspects who were arrested were in their twenties, he said, without revealing their nationalities.
The gang was in the habit of stealing valuables from passersby on the streets in south of Riyadh, waylaying truck drivers and stealing their cash and valuables, and stealing valuables from parked vehicles. In addition to these robberies, the members of the gang were threatening innocent pedestrian with knives and robbing them of their belongings.
Al-Maiman said that the police had to deploy a high-level team of investigators to prepare a strategy to apprehend these criminals.
According to authorities, most of the crimes in the Kingdom are committed by illegal residents who have overstayed their visas. Consequently, the government has intensified its campaign against the residents who have overstayed their visas.
He pointed out that those arrested have been kept in government custody in the prisons and they will be deported after a formal inquiry to ascertain the degree of their respective offenses. He also asserted that the campaign will be continued in the coming weeks to flush out the illegals from the region.
The security authorities conduct regular inspections to apprehend illegal workers to curb crimes such as thefts, sorcery , employing illegal workers, brewing liquor and preventing them from involving in nefarious activities.
During the amnesty period offered by the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, iIlegal residents were allowed to leave the Kingdom without any penalties during the grace period.
The Ministry of Interior had earlier advised all illegal expatriates in the Kingdom to correct their work and residency status following the end of the amnesty period on Nov. 1, 2013 or leave the country.