Riyadh Police busted a gang that allegedly carried out a string of armed robberies and thefts in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts in the capital over the past four months. The arrests were made after methodical investigation led undercover policemen to one of the suspects, a Saudi man in his twenties, a police statement said. The arrested suspect led the police to several alleged accomplices, at least two of them Saudis, who were all arrested. The investigators worked on the basis of several similar crimes reported, starting with a complaint made to Al-Malaz Police Station by an Asian expatriate in his thirties who said three dark-skinned men, one of them toting a pistol, attacked him in the shop where he was working. They robbed prepaid telephone cards from him and fled in a sea-blue Hyundai Accent. Three months later, Al-Malaz Police Station received a similar report of three dark-skinned men attacking an Asian worker in a shop and getting away with SR4,000 in cash, several prepaid phone cards and his mobile telephone. This time, the escape car was a green Honda Civic. On the same day, Al-Malaz Police Station received another similar report, and more followed in the days afterwards. The Director of Riyadh Police got the the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate and soon enough a link was made to a green Honda Civic that was reported stolen by a Saudi national who had parked it in front of his home. Since the crimes were all in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts, the investigators undercover policemen into these areas, which resulted in the breakthrough. The suspects would be referred to the court, the police statement said.
