By ARAB NEWS
ASIR: The murder of an elderly woman that shocked residents of a small village near Asir, led police to a gang that had terrorized the area and was believed to have committed more than 50 crimes. The gang of eight was comprised of men who snuck into the Kingdom from Yemen.
The criminals broke into the home of an elderly couple in Al-Marba village, 35 kilometers from Asir, tied up the husband and killed the wife after she resisted. They stole all the valuables from the house, including cell phones.
The terrible crime mobilized authorities to search for the suspects. Police deployed several trackers in the surrounding mountains and valleys. The eight men were later found 15 kilometers away from the scene of the crime with the stolen goods.
The role of the Asir police did not end by arresting the criminals and bringing them to justice. They learned the details of how the crime was done and compiled a list of similar offenses. Asir police interrogated the suspects for many days and found contradictions in their statements. The group eventually confessed to more than 54 other crimes they committed in Asir and three other areas.
Police later released details of the crime. The gang stormed into the home of the elderly couple. They murdered the 70-year-old woman because she resisted and beat up the husband knocking him unconscious. They tied the old man up, stole SR1,000 and gold from the old woman and a personal weapon. The old man managed to untie himself and crawled to a neighbor’s house from where he called for help.
Laheq Ahmad, the old man who survived the terrible crime, said: “I have been living in this house with my wife for many years. We only have goats and camels. On the day of the terrible crime, my wife and I slept outside because of the hot weather. Around midnight the gang broke into my house and before I knew what was happening, they tied me up and started beating me, asking where I was hiding the money. I was knocked unconscious and when I woke up, I found my wife murdered”.
Laheq said that he wants to see this gang executed for their crimes. He said that he is living an empty life after his wife was murdered. The same gang committed another crime in Fifa when they stormed into an old man’s home inside his farm, tied the old man up and strangled him to death before stealing what was inside the house. The body was discovered a week later when a relative visited the old man’s house only to find him murdered.
The gang confessed during investigation to other crimes that happened in areas outside Asir.
In Qana, they murdered another old man by breaking into his house and beating him to death. In Al-Raq’a village, in the south, they also confessed to a double murder where they murdered a husband and wife. They also committed a double murder in another village called Al-Najdeen. They also confessed to killing a Saudi man named Zaher Al-Ammari and stealing SR50,000 from him.
In Al-Darb, the gang attacked a shepherd while he was praying, beating him up severely and stealing his money. The man was left to die but he was later rescued by others who took him to hospital for treatment. In an area outside Jazan, the gang confessed to beating up an elderly couple and stealing more than SR1,000. The gang also confessed to killing an elderly woman in Al-Namas more than one year ago by striking her on the head with a blunt object. In Tathleeth the gang murdered an old man and his wife three years ago. The couple was living in an isolated house away from the village.
Police revealed that the gang was targeting only the elderly. The gang also targeted villages and isolated homes away from the villages. The gang did not care about the value of what they stole as sometimes they murdered couples for less then a thousand riyals and for items that had little or no value.
Asir police recently concluded their investigation into the gang and their methods of crime in a 1,000-page report that was handed over to the Interior Ministry.
Head of Asir police Gen. Obaid Al-Khamash said that intruders who sneak into the country are ticking bombs that pose a great danger. He said they are responsible for many thefts and murders. He also said that they smuggle drugs. Brig. Gen. Saad Bin Ziyad, head of the Passport Department in Asir, said citizens should not harbor or employ illegal immigrants.
Arab News