Jeddah, July 27: An armed Saudi man was caught by camera as he tried to snatch a little girl but his attempt was blocked by passers by who surrounded him on the street. When police arrived in the scene, the man instantly surrendered.
Saudi newspapers carried a video showing the unnamed man in a white dishdasha grabbing the girl, aged between seven and 11 years, and threatening the crowd with a gun as they tried to make him let her go.
They said the 69-second film was posted on U-Tube and was shot by some passers by on Thursday morning in a neighbourhood in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city.
The film showed the frightened girl was crying and screaming for help as the man kept pointing the gun towards the crowd to warn them to stay away.
When a police car arrived in the scene, the man immediately raised his hands, put his gun down and surrendered. He was then handcuffed and taken away while the girl appeared to have been freed unharmed.
The papers gave no other details of the incident.
-Agencies