Saudi Gazette The two week period of home confinement and non-stop studying for exams is a prime time for thieves, believe it or not, to break into cars and steal high school students' valuable belongings. Students are not allowed to bring their cell phones to the examination hall is common and thieves have taken full advantage of it. During the exam students leave their mobiles, wallets and watches in their cars parked outside the school building. Robbers pry in random cars, if they see anything of value, they skillfully breakthrough the windows and doors of the car and run away with the valuables. This is largely being witnessed in Madina; school administrators and many students worry that they could be the next victim of this malicious trend. Khalid Ibrahim Al-Oufi, an eleventh grade student at Prince Abdul Majeed High School, Madinah, said, “While I was taking an exam two days ago, robbers broke into my car and stole my mobile phone. More police cars should be present, circulating the school buildings to prevent such burglaries from taking place.” Abdullah Al-Saedi agrees with Al-Oufi and he said that a large number of students' cars had been broken into during the exam session and they reported thefts of their mobile phones and wallets. Amr Al-Harbi said, “I lost several personal belongings while I was taking my exam: my phone, watch, and expensive sunglasses. It's a nightmare after the stress of the exam to walk out of your school and find your car tampered with and your belongings stolen.” School principal Youself Al-Shaye said,“In the past week and a half of exams, I have received several complaints from students that their cars were vandalized and their belongings removed. I have requested an increased number of police officers and cars to be stationed at our school to protect our students' properties and tackle this problem. Burglars consider examination time a golden opportunity to steal personal valuables, radios, and high-tech sound systems from the cars of students.” The police department in Madinah responded to students' complaints by planning to send secret police and visible police cars to safeguard students' cars parked outside the schools. The head of the police department further advised all students to keep their valuables at home for the sake of security. __
