JEDDAH: Police have denied that a man was arrested in Jeddah Wednesday on suspicion of attempting to abduct a nine-year-old girl. According to Al-Watan Arabic daily, Jeddah Police issued the statement in response to reports in the local press and on Internet websites, and in the light of the recent arrest of a man suspected of being responsible for at least 13 abductions and rapes of young girls over the last three years. “The report in a local newspaper concerning the arrest of a new suspected child rapist is untrue,” said the spokesman for Jeddah Police, Misfir Al-Ju'aid. “The photograph that was published with the story shows a young man who was arrested for car theft after being caught red-handed.” Al-Ju'aid said the news story was published, “without consulting the relevant authorities to check its veracity” and said “regulatory measures will be applied in that respect”. “Publishing erroneous reports like these upsets the natural order of people's lives,” he said. Okaz/Saudi Gazette published a report claiming that police had arrested a man on Wednesday for attempting to abduct a nine-year-old girl in the Al-Nuzla District of Jeddah. The man's actions had reportedly been foiled by the public, leading him to flee the scene before a police pursuit led to his apprehension. The story was accompanied by a photograph of a young man, handcuffed and held in a police van.
