JEDDAH: The father of a Saudi boy who went through Jeddah Islamic Port without a passport and crossed the sea to Khartoum has asked that Interpol be contacted to locate the Sudanese man in whose company his son traveled.
13-year-old Ibrahim was later stopped by police in Sudan and handed over to the Saudi embassy which arranged his return to the Kingdom. Investigations are focusing on port and passports officials on duty at the time of the incident, as well as the boy’s motives for his flight.
Muhammad Hudaidi said that his son was one of seven and that he had never been subject to any form of violence.
“He has previously lived with a Sudanese family, though, and speaks with a Sudanese accent,” he said.
Upon his return, Ibrahim was placed at Jeddah’s Dar Al-Mulahadha Center for minors after his father refused to take him back into his care.
“I have met with him, and I will take him back tomorrow from police in Al-Mansour,” Hudaidi said Sunday. “I refused to take him before to make sure that my demands were not forgotten after his return, as they have to catch the Sudanese man who took him.”
According to Hudaidi, Ibrahim told him that the man asked him to go to Sudan with him, but that he didn’t know where Sudan was.
“The Passports Department has the name of the individual because he left the country under proper procedures through the port,” he said.
The Sudanese man is reportedly a resident of Saudi Arabia and is said to have worked formerly as a seller of zamzam water.
Officials from Jeddah Passports met with Ibrahim Saturday and accompanied him to the port to retrace his route past its checkpoints and identify any port or passport officials who allowed him through.
Ibrahim reportedly told them that he passed through queues by claiming he was traveling with his family who had already boarded the ship.
– Okaz/Saudi Gazette