Truck driver waylaid and robbed

In this file photo, a Saudi security personnel stands next to a truck in Riyadh. (REUTERS)

RIYADH: The driver of a truck, loaded with goods on the way to Makkah, was robbed in the early hours of Saturday in Riyadh.
Mohammed Irfan, the Pakistani truck driver, was transporting food items for a private company from its main office in Riyadh to its Makkah branch when he was waylaid at Exit 27 by a man pretending to be a government official.
Irfan said he was stopped by a motorist in some kind of uniform, who wanted to know whether he had concealed any drugs in the truck.
The unsuspecting truck driver said that he and his vehicle were open for any type of inspection.
The person who was impersonating a police officer snatched Irfan’s purse containing SR1,800, his ATM card, iqama, driver's license and all other valuable documents, and sped away in his black car, which was without number plates.
The truck driver immediately called 999 and reported the matter.
Irfan could not proceed further without documents for Makkah and was forced to return to the main office in Riyadh. “There are similar incidents being reported very frequently and truck drivers are mortally scared to undertake transporting of goods from city to city,” an official from the company told Arab News.
On an earlier occasion, an employee from the same company was robbed of SR30,000 while he was taking the cash to a bank. The robbery was carried out by two expatriate workers who were illegally staying in the capital. At the judicial inquiry, the company got back SR17,000 from the thieves and they were deported to their home country, according to a court verdict.