(MENAFN – Arab News) Educational campaigns at the Bangladeshi consulate in Jeddah have succeeded in curbing the number of registered crimes during the past six months, according to Bangladeshi diplomatic officials.“I can confirm that the Bengali crime rate has declined over the past six months,” said Mohammad Najem Alislam, Bengali consul in Jeddah. “It previously occupied fourth place in the number of crimes committed in Saudi Arabia.”
Najm Alislam said the decline resulted from awareness campaigns targeting Bengali workers, which were held by the embassy and a media campaign in Bangladesh that promoted the importance of abiding by Saudi laws.
The Bengali consulate vowed to prosecute criminals even after they return to Bangladesh.
“Bengali citizens in general are peaceful people, but big societies are known to have some criminals,” Alislam said. “The Saudi decision to reduce the number of visas issued to our community was based on increased crime rates by Bengali nationals during the past few years. The Bengali government is dealing with this issue in coordination with Saudi authorities.”
Major General Adel Al-Shalil, director of media and public relations at the Public Security Department, referred inquiries to Lt. Col. Muhsin Al-Shahrani, a guidance and relations officer in public security.
Al-Shahrani could not be reached for comment.
An earlier study said expatriate crime rates are the highest in the Makkah Province, at 47.4 percent. Riyadh comes second, with 28 percent, while Al-Jouf had the lowest crime rate.
Topping the list of crimes committed by nationality were Yemenis, accounting for 21.9 percent of the Kingdom’s crimes. Pakistanis ranked second at 18.6 percent, Indians third at 10.2 percent, and Bengalis fourth with 9.7 percent. The study said the Egyptians ranked fifth, with 4.6 percent, Sudanese nationals sixth, at 4.5 percent, Indonesians came in seventh, at 3.2 percent, while Syrian, Ethiopian and Philippines nationals came next, with 3 percent. – Arab News
