Out of the pan, into the fire

Arab Times

18 hours ago

Umm Tariq carried a bowl of vegetable soup to her neighbor, who was suffering from stomach pain. When she knocked on the door, a handsome young man in his twenties, dressed in an elegant black suit and tie, opened it. He invited her inside, and she assumed he was a family friend.
Once inside, he suddenly snatched the bowl from her hands, spilling some soup on his suit. He grabbed Umm Tariq and led her into a room. To her shock, she found her neighbor handcuffed and lying down, while another young man, around the same age, shouted angrily, demanding she reveal where she hid her jewelry box or closet. Umm Tariq repeatedly insisted she didn't have a safe and that she was wearing all the jewelry she owned, most of which was cheap or fake. The two men tied Umm Tariq's hands with a rope, snatched her handbag, and began searching the bedrooms.
Desperate, the thieves decided to make a quick escape, satisfied only with the jewelry the two women were wearing. As soon as they left, Umm Tariq's neighbor managed to untie herself, rushed to sound the alarm, then returned to free Umm Tariq. Miraculously, the police arrived in less than a minute. It turned out the two young men had been watching the house but hadn't been suspected of being thieves because of their innocent, elegant appearance and the luxury car they drove.
Upon learning the details, the police chief instructed the pilot of a helicopter hovering nearby to pursue the thieves' car. What followed was a thrilling ground and aerial chase straight out of a movie.
The chase ended minutes later when the two thieves found themselves trapped on a dead-end street lined with residential buildings and a half-high wall. Next to the wall, the men had abandoned their car. They jumped onto the back of the vehicle and then over the wall, only to find themselves, to their surprise, in the courtyard of the local police station.
They were immediately arrested and later referred to trial. Umm Tariq and her friend, the homeowner, witnessed the serious armed robbery. Umm Tariq then left Britain and returned to her homeland. A few months later, she received a call from the British police requesting her presence. She agreed and was fully covered for travel and accommodation to testify against the thieves, with protection also provided. However, she never received a final decision or travel date.
A few months later, she got a second call apologizing for the delay. She later learned from her neighbor, the other witness, that both summonses had failed because one of the accused had escaped from prison. When the authorities tried to summon the other to testify against his accomplice, he too had managed to escape ... from prison.
I remembered this incident that had happened to my wife, Umm Tariq, 40 years ago, which I have probably never written about before. I was watching a short video on WhatsApp showing the thief climbing out of a first-floor apartment window he had just robbed. He jumped onto the roof of a car parked directly below, but unfortunately for him, the car was a police patrol with officers both inside and nearby. The thief literally fell into his own trap, and the surveillance camera captured the whole comical scene.