Dad says kidnapper of son will not get prize

A Saudi man who had set a reward of SR100,000 (Dh97,936) and then tripled it to SR300,000 for clue on his kidnapped baby decided to keep the money for himself after he recovered his son. For the clue that led to the whereabouts of the one-day-old boy came from the kidnapper herself.

Anas was snatched off his cot at hospital in the central town of Madina last week just hours after he was born, triggering a massive police manhunt and a huge cash prize announced by his father on the same day the baby was taken.

Four days later, a Pakistani woman who stole the boy texted his father’s mobile and told him his baby was left in a park in town but it was not clear if she did so for the reward or out of guilt or fear of police.

A park worker and a Saudi resident close to the park led police to the baby’s location.

In a report on Sunday, the Saudi Arabic language daily 'Almadina' asked the baby’s father, Badr Al Mazeeni, about whether he will give the reward to the park worker or the resident near the park or to both.

“The one who is supposed to get the reward is the one who gave the first clue… unfortunately, I received the first information from the kidnapper herself…but how can I reward a person who deprived me and my wife from our baby for four days and left my wife in a very bad shape,” he said.

“This means the reward is got stuck and won’t go to any one…as for the park worker, he is just an eye witness and is not the one who guided us to Anas.”

Saudi police have arrested the Pakistani woman, who told them she had done so because she can not have children. The woman, who is married to a Saudi, and her relatives who had helped her in the kidnapping will stand trial shortly and local newspapers expect them to get two years in jail before they are deported.

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