JEDDAH – Jeddah Police have arrested five men in connection with the kidnapping of a businessman who was abducted by a gang of men posing as security officers and robbed of SR6 million. His kidnappers, two Saudis and three Arab expatriates, held him up inside a house for 15 hours and wrote out six checks in his name with fake signatures before using them to withdraw the huge amount from his account, said Jeddah Police spokesman First Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq. He added: “The kidnappers sent one of them down to the bank to cash the first check. “As a precautionary measure, the bank called the businessman's cellphone. “One of the kidnappers answered the phone and pretended to be the victim before the transaction was approved.” The five suspects confessed to investigators that they continued to use the same method to withdraw all the money from his account, Al-Bouq said, adding they set the businessman free afterwards. The businessman immediately went to the nearest police station and lodged a complaint. A team of investigators was formed to work on the case. One of the suspects turned out to have been convicted in a forgery case in the past, Al-Bouq said. Once police officers arrested this man, the others were apprehended. — SG
