Arab News
RIYADH, Dec 10: Burglars robbed gold and valuables worth around SR100,000 from the Riyadh home of an Indian family, who had just popped out for an hour to go shopping.
“I lost all my gold ornaments and other valuables worth SR100,000,” Shameena Osman, an Indian schoolteacher working at the English section of the Bangladesh International School, told Arab News.
“It took only one hour for us to return home. We went in our car to buy some groceries from a nearby supermarket at 7.30 in the evening. In that period, the thieves had broken into the house through the iron window grills,” she said, adding that the thieves stole gold jewelry, a video camera and two luxury watches.
The Osman family had only recently moved to Riyadh from Jeddah after Shameena’s husband, Syed Muhammad Osman, a claims manager at a private firm, had been given a job transfer. The family, comprising two children, lived in an apartment close to the SABB head office.
Osman said he has reported the burglary at the police station in Deerah. Police, who visited the home, said that the burglars wore gloves and that they could not find fingerprints to help identify them.
“My family and kids are so terrified ... that they are having sleepless nights as a result,” Osman said. “I was so desperate ... that I went again to the police station to follow up on the case. Capt. Abdulwahid Al-Kabli, who is in-charge, told me that the police would call me when there is a development. ... How long is the wait going to be?”
Osman said he did not expect to get back his lost items. “But this case should be reported in the media as it is an eye-opener for expatriates, who should be more careful, as burglaries, snatching of mobiles or cash and cars are being heard very often in the Hara area where there is a large concentration of Asian expatriates,” he said.
Osman, who grew up in Jeddah, said his family never encountered such a situation in the Western Province. “The incident has rendered untold hardships to my family, which now has to start life from the beginning since my whole house was ransacked and looks like a hut in the desert,” he added