It was a happy day for the Al-Subai'es when they were reunited with their daughter Friday after she was kidnapped by their Indonesian maid Wednesday noon from their house in Naseem District while the family was away. “I have not slept for two days waiting for the return of my little daughter. And I have never lost faith and confidence in Allah that she would be back with us,” said the girl's father, Muhammad Al-Subai'e. “I could not believe it when my phone rang at 1:30 A.M. (Friday) with the police telling me that they had found Maha safe,” he added. When he heard the good news, Al-Subai'e performed prayers of thanks. Following security tip-offs, the police raided a house in Kandara District where they arrested the housemaid, Ayit Nour Hayati, early Friday morning with Maha sleeping in her lap. The baby appeared to be in good health. The police also arrested three illegal Indonesian maids in the Kandara house. The maid was recruited from Indonesia five months ago. During preliminary investigations, she said that she kidnapped the girl to negotiate higher pay or to be able to work for another family for higher pay. Current monthly pay for legally recruited Indonesian housemaids is a maximum of SR800. However, if housemaids leave their employers and work illegally, they can earn as much as SR1,500 per month. The hunt for the kidnapper was a tough mission because there was little information about her, the police said. Since Hayati arrived from Indonesia, she had had no contact with the outside world. She did not even have a cell phone to make calls. The police are still investigating how she was able to join the group of illegal Indonesian housemaids. The family said that Hayati remained emotionally aloof as she refused to establish any communication with those in her employer's family. During the search, the police said that they believed that Hayati was motivated by her emotions and state of depression, which made them intensify their search in order to find her before she hurt the baby girl. Many police officers were called away from their weekend break to boost the search efforts for the youngest kidnapped girl ever reported to the Jeddah Police Department. Thanking all policemen who continued the around the clock search during their weekend break, Gen. Lt. Ali Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Jeddah Police Department, said that the biggest reward and ultimate happiness for their search mission was to have “Maha safe and healthy and reunited her with her family.”
