Jeddah bank robbers get prison terms

The Makkah region Court of Appeals commuted the previously issued death penalty for the four members of a gang that robbed a Jeddah bank to prison terms ranging from 25 years for the head of the group to 20 years for the other three. One of the four is a Pakistani national.
The court based its new sentence on the fact that prosecutors were unable to find material evidence against the four who have been in prison for over 15 years, since 2000, during which the sentence was appealed several times.
Throughout the case, the defendants pleaded not guilty and denied all accusations, which included robbing a bank of SR300,000 in a first-of-its-kind crime in Jeddah at that time.
The four were also accused of planning to rob another bank in the Badawi neighborhood.
It was said, at the time, that the men raided the Saudi-French bank movie style, shooting to scare the workers before stealing the money and fleeing the scene.
Security forces in Jeddah found the robbers in record time.

Source: Arab News