Mobile phone theft in Riyadh is on the increase. Snatchers are well versed with the ones which will fetch a good price and worth taking risk. They will never be enticed by the cheap stuff. A bank executive, who was robbed of his expensive mobile phone in downtown Batha is now carrying one of the cheapest available in the market. He tells me that although he puts it in a place for an “easy-pick” the prospective snatchers show their total disregard, knowing it is not worth the risk. The wise man from the bank now has two mobile phones — an ultra modern one exclusively for office use and the ordinary one for his evening strolls and his visits to notorious places in the city infested with mobile snatchers. Another businessman friend of mine lost his extremely expensive mobile phone recently while jogging in a facility in Rawdah district. According to him he gave the snatcher a good chase for about 200 meters but the snatcher jumped into a waiting pickup to take him off and vanished. Despite his sadness of losing the mobile phone in which he has saved hundreds of phone numbers, he joked that the youngster was a good Olympic prospect and would have given the Jamaican Gold medalist, Usain Bolt, a good run! Coming back to serious talk, he said there is hardly a day where he has not heard of such petty theft in the city. Public carelessness also has contributed to the increase of mobile snatching. We urge the general public not to carry expensive cell phones, just for the sake of “status symbol”, in crowded places or while out on a stroll. We recommend that it is safe to follow the example of the sensible bank executive who learned a bitter lesson in downtown Batha – carry the cheapest possible one.
