Cairo: Saudi police had arrested nine expatriates involved in stealing cables from buildings under construction, a security official said.
The nine included eight Nigerian nationals, two of them illegal residents, and a Bangladeshi national ranging in ages of 20s to 50s, a spokesman for police in the region of holy Mecca added.
The suspects were implicated in 37 thefts of cables from buildings in the Saudi western governorate of Taif and selling them to a store dealing in scraps where the Bangladeshi accomplice works, the official said. The stolen items were evaluated at SR300,000.
They are remanded and referred to public prosecution.
Last week, the Saudi Interior Ministry said that nearly 13,000 violators of residency, labour and border security laws were arrested across the kingdom in the week from July 29 to August 4.
The ministry warned that facilitating the entry of infiltrators into the country or providing them with transportation, shelter or any assistance is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and a maximum fine of SR1 million, besides naming to shame the offenders and confiscating the means of transportation and accommodation.
