Continuing police campaigns to crack down on illegal residents and persons wanted for involvement in petty crimes led to the arrest on Friday of 284 individuals of Saudi and non-Saudi nationality. The operations, which involved undercover officers, road blocks and spontaneous checkpoints in several districts of the capital, led in one instance to the arrest of a man posing as a military officer, and in others to the detention of teenagers charged with stealing car accessories, an Asian pickpocket, persons carrying knives, and a gang of electric cable thieves. Officers also raided one site where they detained 27 persons found “in a state of inebriation”, and charged several other persons with “practicing magic and swindling” after they were found in possession of “talismans and items used in magic”.
