A man and wife have confessed to at least two thefts of jewelry stores by staging marital rows to distract the attention of shop assistants. Police heard how the couple entered a store in Al-Qunfudha and asked to see a gold belt before staging an argument during which the wife stormed out of the shop and her husband apologized to staff and followed her out in order to “assuage her”, the gold belt still in his hands. The pair then drove off and later sold the item, worth 30,000 riyals, for half its original value. The wife, who confessed that they pulled the same stunt in Al-Baha, claimed however that her husband suffered from “mental problems” and had forced her into the thefts by threatening to divorce her and throw her and their children out of the house if she did not cooperate. Police reportedly detained the pair as they planned another heist, and a spokesman said that the man had a criminal record for previous involvement in drugs offenses.
