Saudi chop-chop update:7 Filipinos Charged With Murder

(This is the today’s Arab News report on the Saudi chop-chop murders. Take note of the sixth paragraph. The name of Bong Pineda was mentioned.)

Mahmoud Ahmed
Arab News

JEDDAH, 24 April 2006 — Saudi authorities have indicted 30 Filipinos in Jeddah for alleged involvement in murder, gambling, lottery and money laundering, informed sources told Arab News. They include seven Filipinos who were allegedly behind the killing of three compatriots in the city.

The sources said the cases of the 30 Filipinos would be transferred to a court within a few days in order to issue verdicts on the basis of Shariah and Saudi laws.

Preliminary investigations proved that the seven, who mutilated the remains of three Filipinos after murdering them and burying them in different places in the Industrial Area of Jeddah on April 4, were part of an international gang engaged in money laundering and illicit gambling, the sources said.

They killed their rival, who was the head of another gang engaged in illegal activities, as well as his assistant and driver, one source said. After questioning some 20 Filipinos, police learned that the murders might have occurred as a result of a gambling turf war.

The gang had been active in the north and south of Jeddah and its operations included an illegal numbers betting game known as “jueteng” in the Philippines.

A Philippine Consulate official told Arab News that he believed the gambling gangs were part of the network of the infamous jueteng lord in the Philippines, Bong Pineda.

Reports of the arrest of 52 Filipinos in connection with the murder case had sent shockwaves across the Philippines. Saudi Ambassador to Manila Muhammad Ameen Wali reassured Manila that the Kingdom would take care of Filipino workers and provide them with protection and a good working atmosphere.

Wali expressed his desire to end all problems related to Filipino workers as quickly as possible. “The crimes committed by a few Filipinos will not affect the situation of other Filipinos,” he stressed.

Only a small number of Filipinos are believed to be involved in crimes such as murder, robbery, smuggling, gambling and running brothels.

The arrests came after a series of raids conducted by security forces in Jeddah. According to one source, police conduct at least five raids every month with the participation of 1,200 officers from 12 departments including patrol police, special forces, criminal investigation officers, Passports Department officers, traffic police, members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Red Crescent Society and the Electricity Company.

Remittances by expatriates from the Kingdom amounted to SR40.8 billion in 2005 or nine percent of the country’s total revenues or three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to official statistics.
The amount does not include all the money transfers carried out by expatriates last year as some workers send money to their relatives back home in cash through passengers and using unlicensed door-to-door services.

During the past six years, expatriates have transferred more than SR323 billion, which is equal to the Kingdom’s total revenue for a year.