Duo held for robbing cabbies

Abdulrahman Al-Ali
Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – Jeddah police arrested two men accused of assaulting and robbing taxi drivers. Police acted on a tip-off from a Pakistani taxi driver who told them he was attacked by two people from an Arab nationality.

The duo had asked the driver to take them to a location in North Jeddah where they attacked him and stole his car and money. The car was later found abandoned in a remote area.

Police set up surveillance units in several locations in the city. Using descriptions provided by the taxi driver, one of the men was eventually spotted and police followed him to a house where his partner lived. Both men were arrested on the spot.

Upon interrogation, the suspects, who were in their 20s, confessed to robbing several taxi drivers. They told officers that after waving down a taxi, they would ask to be taken to an isolated area outside of the city where one man would grab the driver’s neck and the other would assault the driver and steal his money, cell phone and other valuables. The two would then further assault the driver and drive away with his car to a secure location where they would abandon the vehicle.

Police warned taxi drivers to avoid carrying large amounts of cash and to report all cases of assault.