Three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) staying in a residential condo unit in Saudi Arabia were robbed by two unidentified men who broke into their residence in the middle of the night on March 3.
As per one of the victims, Ana (not her real name), the suspects identified themselves as policemen. Since they were wearing face masks, they couldn’t remember their faces. Upon entering their unit, they tied up their hands, ransacked the unit, and even sexually assaulted one of them.
3 OFWs in Saudi Arabia Robbed and One Assaulted
At around ten o’clock Wednesday night, Ana heard someone knocking on the door. Thinking it was one of her colleagues, she mindlessly opened the door only to find two unidentified men wearing face masks and holding guns before her. They claimed they were police officers, and entered the unit, GMA News reported.
Ana recounted that the two men hid in their unit then searched their residence.
“Lahat ng kwarto hinalungkat po, hindi po namin alam na lahat po ng pera namin saka alahas kinuha nila (They went through all of our rooms but we didn’t know that they took everything – our money and jewellery),” Ana said.
After taking all of the valuables they could get a hold on, one of the intruders even took Ana into one of the rooms where he allegedly assaulted her sexually.
In line with this, the Kaagapay Advocate Group, a group that helps OFWs, immediately advised them to call the police through the hotline to get help right away.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Consul General Edgar Badajos of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, he said that the victims did the right thing by calling the police to send for help right away.
“Kapag may nangyari, ang dapat na unang gawin ay tumawag sa pulis dahil sila ang first responder dahil kung kayo ay tumawag dito sa atin sa konsulado sa POLO, nasa Jeddah kami so yung hinihingi na instant na reaction ay hindi natin magagawa (If any incident such as this happens, the first thing our OFWs should do is to call the police because they can respond to the issue right away. Calling the consulate, especially for those from far-flung areas cannot warrant an immediate response because Saudi Arabia is such a huge country,” said Badajos.
The Saudi Police emergency number is 999.
Here is the video report posted by GMA News Online / YouTube:
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