Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — There has been an increase recently in organized all-female criminal gangs who typically do not face any prosecution when caught. These gang members, which mostly target stores, are often caught red-handed either shoplifting from the store or pickpocketing unsuspecting shoppers but many store owners fail to notify the police due to the bureaucracy of procedures, Al-Hayat newspaper reported. The CEO of a famous shopping mall in Jeddah, Mohammad Alawi, said his mall is equipped with more than 400 CCTV cameras, a large operations room and 160 private security guards, of which 20 are women. He pointed out that most shops in the mall are also equipped with CCTV cameras but admitted some thefts still occur, especially during the holidays. “When a theft is reported at a store, CCTV footage is reviewed to identify the culprits and determine whether they have left the mall or are still inside. If they are still inside the mall, security guards are alerted and they are detained. If they have already left the mall, then the police are notified as the case then falls under their jurisdiction,” he explained. Alawi acknowledged that many store owners give up their rights to press charges either by accepting the return of the stolen items or accepting double its price, according to regulations. “In such a case, the mall can only photocopy the culprits' identification cards and hand it to police and ask for the culprits' pledge not to enter the mall again,” he said, while admitting that the such a pledge cannot be enforced as many women cover their faces, making them nearly impossible to identify. The manager of a women's shop in a shopping mall said that there are organized all-female gangs that steal from stores on a regular basis. She further said about 75 percent of these women are Saudis. “Shoplifting has become a normal occurrence and it usually increases by 45 percent during seasons like Ramadan, Eid, Haj and holidays. These women are professional thieves, with three or four entering a store to distract workers while an accomplice steals whatever looks valuable,” she said. “Many of these women wear expensive clothes and appear to be rich so they don't draw attention to their true intentions. During the previous Ramadan, one woman stole items worth SR12,000 from different stores during one night,” she added. Many of the gangs use special equipment to take off item tags so security equipment does not sound an alarm when they leave a store. Gangs target anything of value but perfumes, lingerie, shoes and bags are the most common items stolen. “These women usually have bad manners and they refuse to hand over the stolen items when caught and become hostile and even start using obscene language. “When members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) are called in, they only ask for the culprits' pledge not to enter the mall again,” she said while adding that many culprits are asked to write their tribal names while others from lesser known tribes are asked for their full names. A supervisor at a grocery store, Abdullateef Khan, said there have been a number of thefts in the store he works. However, after installing CCTV cameras, the number of thefts has decreased significantly. “Most of the culprits are of African nationalities who hide the stolen items in their abayas. Whenever an African woman enters the store, she is closely followed and monitored by an employee until she leaves,” he said. Jeddah police spokesman, First Lt. Nawwaf Al-Bouq, acknowledged that theft cases involving women are rarely reported to police. “Shop owners are at will to report a theft but they should notify the police of such incidents so the culprits do not commit their crimes again.”
