British couple held in Saudi for selling liquor

Saudi Arabia’s police arrested a British company manager and another woman of the same nationality on charges of selling alcoholic drinks, which are strictly banned in the conservative Muslim Gulf Kingdom, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law-enforcement authority in Saudi Arabia, arrested the couple early Tuesday at the company’s living complex in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah.

A Commission member, posting as a customer, went to the Briton at his residence and asked to buy liquor following a tip-off about an illegal liquor trade in that complex.

“When the British man got the money and gave liquor to the undercover operative, commission members who were waiting outside rushed to the place and arrested the Briton.

"They also arrested another British woman who tried to stop them from entering the flat,” the Arabic language daily Sabq said.

It quoted police sources as saying commission members could not enter the flat for “some reasons”, but that they believe the couple was making the liquor at home.

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