Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The Eastern Province police arrested a citizen who committed a criminal incident by pouring gasoline and setting fire to his house, killing four members of his family in Qatif.

The police said that legal action was taken against him and he has been referred to the Public Prosecution.

Initial investigations found that he was under the influence of the drug methamphetamine (Shabu), the police added.

The details of the incident go back to Thursday when a fire broke out in a citizen's house in the city of Safwa in the Qatif Governorate just before Iftar.

The fire caused the death of an entire family (father - mother - young boy - young daughter).

The fire was put out by a Civil Defense team, while the suspect was arrested and referred for investigation by the competent authorities.

The offender is in his 20s and a first-degree relative of the family, and according to information, the offender developed a plan to carry out the crime by confining all family members in a room to prevent them from running away from the fire, in addition to closing the room from outside.

The perpetrator ignored all distress calls, whether from the father or the mother, as well as the young boy and daughter to rescue them, despite the many pleas to save them from certain death.

The fire left all family members with many deformities as a result of the fire devouring their bodies.