Manama: Police in the Saudi capital have freed Jouri Al Khalidi, the two-and-a-half-year old girl who was kidnapped from a hospital.
Her father confirmed the news that anxious people in Saudi Arabia had been waiting to hear for days.
“The police found her after they raided a flat in Riyadh,” Abdul Hakeem Al Khalidi, said. “Jouri is now with her mother and grandmother and she is in good condition, thank God. The kidnapper has been arrested,” he said, according to the Saudi news site Sabq.
The kidnapper is believed to be a Saudi national who placed Jouri with a domestic helper.
The little girl was kidnapped on November 20 while visiting a hospital with her parents.
Her father reportedly left her at the reception while he went to pray.
Video surveillance showed her playing with a man who was taking pictures of her. He gave her his mobile phone and playfully led her towards the hospital’s main door and then carried her into his car and drove away.
The father had issued pleas to the public to help locate Jouri and several people offered rewards of up to one million Saudi riyals to anyone who helps the family or the police find Jouri.
One man offered to pay all the expenses of an Umrah for the family of anyone who provides information that would lead to locating Jouri, Sabq reported.
He said he would offer to pay for a three-day stay in Makkah for the man, his wife and his parents.
Social media in Saudi Arabia has been closely monitoring the Jouri case with many people offering prayers for the family.
Social media reports also claim Jouri’s family and tribe were planning to raid houses in Riyadh to find her. The family denied the reports as baseless.
