Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested two men in separate incidents for blackmailing an Omani girl and a Saudi student currently in Canada.
In the first case, the Saudi man used private pictures he had of a young Saudi woman in Canada to blackmail her into sending him money and buying him the latest technological inventions.
Failure to respond to his demands would result in her pictures being circulated on the internet and sent to her family, local Arabic daily Okaz reported.
The student refused to bow to the threats and alerted the Saudi authorities, giving them his mobile numbers and contacts. The blackmailer was arrested.
In the second case, an Omani girl complained to the police that an Arab national had threatened to post her private pictures on the web unless she offered him money and gifts.
The young woman said that she initially transferred money into his account and offered gifts. However, she later realised that the blackmailer was not satiated and that he wanted more money and gifts, prompting her to report her case to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The blackmailer was ambushed and confronted with the bank transactions evidence. Pictures of the Omani girl were found on his mobile, the Saudi daily said.
The Saudi and Arab are being still examined by the police amid expectations that they will be charged with blackmail and extortion.
A Saudi official urged young women to be more cautious about promises of marriages given by young men.
The girls should make sure they are not sweet talked into emailing their private pictures to men, the official said.
The Commission has recently arrested a man who reportedly blackmailed hundreds of girls, the Saudi daily said.
One of his methods to ‘catch’ the girls was through sending them love messages, it said.
