Badea Abu Al-Naja Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — Residents of various Makkah neighborhoods are complaining that ongoing development projects have increased the number of abandoned buildings all over the city providing a safe haven for criminals. They said suspected criminals hide inside these buildings, stash drugs in them or use them to commit moral crimes. Makkah Municipality has asked owners of these properties to either renovate them or block off all doors and windows. Saudi Gazette met with residents and visited some of the deserted buildings. Bakur Ahmad blamed district mayors, who are appointed by the government to look after the affairs of neighborhood residents, for the situation. "A district mayor (umdah) should report any abandoned building in his neighborhood to the authorities," said Ahmad. "They are responsible for the safety of their neighborhoods. When police learn about a deserted building, they will arraign its owner and ask him or her to write an undertaking that the building's door and windows will be blocked and a security guard hired to prevent criminals from using the building. Unfortunately, police never come to learn about such buildings because the umdahs don't report them to police." Lutfi Abdul Qader, a citizen, called upon authorities to remove these buildings if their owners refuse to act. “Places like Al-Hindawiya, Al-Mansour, Al-Otaibiya, Al-Zahir and Beesha have many deserted buildings,” Abdul Qader said. Hani Hussein, who lives in the Al-Mansour district, mentioned the story of a group of Yemeni workers who used one of the deserted buildings to sell fake Zamzam water. They filled bottles with water and fixed Zamzam stickers on them. They were caught by the authorities only a few weeks later. Esam Ibrahim, who lives in the Harat Beesha neighborhood, talked about the dangers posed by deserted buildings. Giving an example, he said a resident went missing one day and everyone in the neighborhood searched for him for two days with no avail. They later found his body in the water tank of an abandoned building where he fell by mistake and drowned. Makkah Police spokesman Lt. Col. Abdulmohsin Al-Maiman confirmed that on several occasions police officers have found dead bodies inside abandoned buildings. “If a crime takes place in an abandoned building, the owner will have to face legal action,” Al-Maiman said.
