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| Arabia |
| Saudis confront soaring crime |
| 2003-12-23 |
| EFL: Saudi Arabia’s deeply conservative Islamic society is coming to terms with a crime wave ushered in by a population boom, rapid social change, increased unemployment and a reduction in oil revenue. A report this year by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency said crime among young jobless Saudis rose 320 percent from 1990 to 1996 and is expected to increase by an additional 136 percent by 2005. The dumb ones go off on jihads, the clever ones stay home and become crooks. Although official crime and unemployment statistics are not available, the number of jobless Saudis is estimated to be as high as 35 percent, and the al-Riyadh daily newspaper has reported that in 1999, courts dealt with 616 murder cases. The highest number of murders was in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Holy outrage, Batman! "People here are totally confused. They don’t understand how crime can keep rising in this Muslim society," the newspaper said in a two-page special on crime. I’m sure they are. They’ve been told since birth that all good muslims are, well, good. And since Saudi is the holy seat of the universe, it should be overflowing with goodness, right? The days when Saudis could leave their homes unlocked, even when they went on vacation, are long gone. Thieves have taken to robbing whole apartments, after brazenly parking a van in the street outside. Police recently arrested a Saudi man, based on fingerprint evidence, who had burgled at least 25 houses in the capital. Riyadh police say that in the past three years, they have recorded more than 13,000 serious robberies. A highly publicized visit by de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, a reformer, to a slum in a Riyadh suburb in January helped put the spotlight squarely on social deprivation. The mass-circulation Okaz Arabic-language daily subsequently ran a frank three-part series on Kerantina, a slum to the south of Jidda, from which undercover journalists reported that prostitution, drug abuse and alcohol smuggling are rife. I’m sure they spent a lot of time investigating this problem, at least that’s what they told their editor. The whole area, the article said, becomes a police no-go area after dark. Any wonder why the cops can’t catch terrorists when they can’t bust hookers and bootleggers? The number of drug smugglers, dealers and users in the kingdom has increased sharply, from 4,279 in 1986 to 17,199 in 2001, according to the latest published statistics. These figures probably only reveal the tip of the iceberg. At least three districts of Riyadh — Batha, Olaya and Badia — are safe havens for alcohol and drug smugglers, as is the Kerantina district of Jidda, the main city in the al-Jouf region on the Iraqi border, Sakaka, and Jizan, near the Saudi-Yemeni border in the south. Note that the same areas show up in reports of firefights with terror suspects. Heroin, hashish and amphetamines are the most commonly used drugs in Saudi Arabia, according to Maj. Gen. Sultan al-Harithi, director-general of the country’s antinarcotics department. But in an interview with a Saudi daily this year, he said, drugs are considered "a phenomenon, not a menace." Right |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #9 AP, that might be the longest (and best) surfing metaphor I've ever seen.... but you forgot to mention the sharks. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-23 5:18:35 PM |
| #8 An aside: The Kerantina neighborhood gets its name from the English "quarantine" referring to the old days when pilgrims just off the boat were thought to carry diseases. It was just as seedy in the '80's when I lived in Jeddah. I guess urban renewal still hasn't made its way there. |
| Posted by: Michael 2003-12-23 4:52:48 PM |
| #7 It seems to me that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Saudi society as we know it. They have been surfing in a dream world built on a big wave of oil money. Hang ten and all that. Now they are going to hit the beach and will have to adapt or go under. My two cents is on bottoming out, followed by upheaval and anarchy, and maybe, just maybe, a slow march forward. But that is just the optimist in me. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-23 3:36:07 PM |
| #6 "People here are totally confused. They don’t understand how crime can keep rising in this Muslim society," -blaming the Jews/Infidel in 3.....2.....1..... |
| Posted by: Brainiac 2003-12-23 2:07:53 PM |
| #5 Charles #3: No. To feel confused, and to be confused, are not always congruent. Like I was sayin... |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-23 1:23:09 PM |
| #4 Police recently arrested a Saudi man, based on fingerprint evidence, who had burgled at least 25 houses in the capital. Serious crime my ass. Pros always wear gloves. "Dumb |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-12-23 12:16:48 PM |
| #3 No Glenn, they seriously don't understand how crime can keep rising in their "Religion of Peace". It's un-thinkable to them that a Muslim would do harm to another Muslim. Therefore, it must be Mossad! |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-12-23 11:41:59 AM |
| #2 Correction: Delete all after "confused." |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-23 11:39:35 AM |
| #1 People here are totally confused. They don’t understand how crime can keep rising in this Muslim society Hmmm... I think I see the problem right there. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-12-23 10:56:31 AM |