Job Discussion Forums

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:18 pm Post subject:

Quote:

johnslat · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:38 pm Post subject:

Dear Mia,
Ah, it's those kwaji (foreigners) doing all the stealing. That's what I was told by Saudis when my motorcycle got taken in Jeddah.

"Oh, like me, you mean?"

was my response.

Regards,
John

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:34 am Post subject:

Well, of course, if Mia has noticed things being frequently stolen "from the compound or the office" then it almost certainly is 'those kwaij" in these particular cases.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The sıngular ıs 'Khawajja'. What ıs the plural ? Mıss Cleopatra go to the bottom of the class !

007 · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:51 am Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

I suspect Mia is somewhere there's a problem (PMU?).

There's always been a fair amount of petty crime in Saudi. One morning I got out the house to drive to work with some mates and they pointed out my back bumper had gone. It was there two hours before. When I mentioned it to my class that morning, two students piped up "Yea, same thing happened to my dad last year."

There was a group of Yemenis around that time whose speciality was going into people's houses while they were watching television and nicking the gas cylinder from the kitchen.

I lost my mobile in IKEA a couple of months ago. When I mentioned it to somebody in the shop they laughed, "Oh, it's gone then." Luckily I was persistent went through the whole shop and found a Saudi shop assistant who told me he'd handed it in to CR, where they gave it back to me. One time lucky out of three.

Since most of the Yemenis got kicked out because their government was idiotic enough to support Saddam in the Gulf War, the majority of petty crime has probably been committed by Saudis, but then they are the majority of the population.

trapezius · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:42 pm Post subject:

I don't know about other cities, but a big chunk of the crime (petty and serious) in Jeddah is committed by Africans who are living here illegally (Somalis, Chadians, and of course, Nigerians).

In fact they have populated a whole district (Karantina) in the South of Jeddah, where even the police dare not go.

Couple of years back, a Jordanian colleague's Iqama got stolen from his car (someone broke the window). He went to the police station to report it, and the police chief in charge asked him "Have you checked the 'Somali market'?" Shocked

That's what that district is fondly known as. And yes, the police chief asked him that. Several days later, he recieved a phone call from an African who told him to bring SR. 1,000 if he wanted his Iqama back. He went there alone (DON'T DO IT) and got it back after walking through a few dark alleys.

The Somali market is a haven for stolen Iqamas/passports, drugs, alcohol, prostitution, and gambling.

But don't worry anybody contemplating on coming to Jeddah Very Happy

You will never be within at least 30 km of it! I have never been there or been affected by it, even though I have lived in Jeddah for 2+ decades.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Muggings are also quite common in some parts of Jeddah. They're very rare elsewhere in the Kingdom.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

İt is stll much safer than most places on Terra.