Mystery shrouds disappearance of two school girls

JEDDAH — The case of two girls, reported missing on Sunday and found on Monday, is steeped in mystery. The 24-hour period of their disappearance has not been explained either by police officials or their parents. Amnah Janbi and Nora Al-Maghrabi were reported missing on Sunday from their elementary school in Jeddah's Al-Bawadi neighborhood, according to Makkah Police spokesman Col. Ati Al-Qurashi. “The girls were not picked up from their school which made their parents worried. The parents searched for the girls in the school but could not find them. They reported the girls missing and the police investigated the case suspecting it was a case of kidnapping,” said Al-Qurashi. He added the police questioned the parents, the school administration and the school guards, Okaz reported. “The police found  school bags of the students in class which means they were present in the school till the last period. One of the girls had a cellphone. The parents tried calling the girl’s cellphone but the cellphone was off,” said Al-Qurashi. He added the police suspected two men as their kidnappers and called them in for questioning. He also said the police rushed into the shopping center to confirm the identity of the girls and to check of their health. “The security guard said he had seen the girls on Sunday in the shopping center being harassed by a group of young guys. He shooed the guys away from the girls and told the girls to go to their parents. The security guard saw the photos of the missing girls in newspapers the next day and regretted that he did not duly recognize them,” said Al-Qurashi. He also said the security guard saw the girls again the next day in the shopping center and that’s when he contacted the police. The father of one of the girls said he was surprised that the school had never reported the girls missing and that he and the other girl’s parents had to be the one to report it. “We didn’t know whether our daughters were kidnapped or dead. Someone may have kidnapped them or they could have fallen in a manhole in the school or near it. When I asked the school principal about my daughters she said they don’t want scandals,” said the father. He added angrily what scandals does she mean? What about his daughter? “We reported the incident to the police and it took the Civil Defense a long time to get to the school and search for my daughter in the school. We had firstly suspected that they might be trapped somewhere in the school,” said the father.