# Held up



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

My co worker has just been held up at gun point and had is wallet taken yards from the mosque where he was going for noon prayers. A car drew up alongside him and one man got out and asked him the way to such and such a place.. he replied I am sorry I am not Egyptian and I don't know, they man then put his arm around him and with the other hand stuck a gun in his face and told him to hand over his wallet. All this done on a main street with lots of people around.


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

Oh ma God! Where was this? Is he OK? I don't know whether your friend passes for an Egyptian or if he can speak Arabic or not... but if he can and does, he should try and act as 'local' as possible. This is what I do. I never make out that I am foreign. Only sometimes, when they do figure it out and they are sure I am foreign (after speaking to me for longer then just "Hello, how are you etc") then I say I am from Afghanistan. I never say London - with Afghanistan, I give them an image of a country which is poor and more political instability then Egypt. In fact, taxi drivers sometimes refuse to take money from me. The reaction is opposite to saying 'London'. If sometimes they start talking to me in English, I make out that I don't understand and I respond in Arabic that I don't understand English. Other then that, I am Egyptian. If someone asks for directions, I just say I don't know and walk off. No need for lengthening the conversation. I hope your friend is OK. What a horrible thing to happen


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## CatMandoo (Dec 16, 2011)

MaidenScotland said:


> My co worker has just been held up at gun point and had is wallet taken yards from the mosque where he was going for noon prayers. A car drew up alongside him and one man got out and asked him the way to such and such a place.. he replied I am sorry I am not Egyptian and I don't know, they man then put his arm around him and with the other hand stuck a gun in his face and told him to hand over his wallet. All this done on a main street with lots of people around.


What area did this happen?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

CatMandoo said:


> What area did this happen?




Agouza.. right on Nile St.. the poor man cannot afford to loose this money.. 220LE but when your Bangladeshi working away from home to provide for your family every penny counts.


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## CatMandoo (Dec 16, 2011)

That's truly awful. My husband's nephew had the same thing happen to him a couple of months ago in Nasr City. Only that time the guy put a knife to his throat.

Friends also had their car stolen at gunpoint here in Alex. The person who stole the car in turn sold it to this drug dealer. That guy in turn found a paper that had our friends telephone number on the front seat, and called him and told him he could have the car back (he claimed he didn't know it was stolen) for 10,000LE. He said he couldn't keep the car because it was haram!! LOL Unreal, I know!!


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

CatMandoo said:


> That's truly awful. My husband's nephew had the same thing happen to him a couple of months ago in Nasr City. Only that time the guy put a knife to his throat.
> 
> Friends also had their car stolen at gunpoint here in Alex. The person who stole the car in turn sold it to this drug dealer. That guy in turn found a paper that had our friends telephone number on the front seat, and called him and told him he could have the car back (he claimed he didn't know it was stolen) for 10,000LE. He said he couldn't keep the car because it was haram!! LOL Unreal, I know!!




I know an Arab who owes another Arab a hefty amount for a yacht he bought of him,
The first Arab keeps telling the other yeah yeah but I have a cash flow problem.
The second Arab told him but you just won $$$$$$$$$$$$$ dollars at the casino only to be told ohh you don't want that money its haram.


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

CatMandoo said:


> That's truly awful. My husband's nephew had the same thing happen to him a couple of months ago in Nasr City. Only that time the guy put a knife to his throat.
> 
> Friends also had their car stolen at gunpoint here in Alex. The person who stole the car in turn sold it to this drug dealer. That guy in turn found a paper that had our friends telephone number on the front seat, and called him and told him he could have the car back (he claimed he didn't know it was stolen) for 10,000LE. He said he couldn't keep the car because it was haram!! LOL Unreal, I know!!


A drug dealer, is worried abt a car being haraam and then ask money for its return? Hmmm how very Islamic of him


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## CatMandoo (Dec 16, 2011)

ArabianNights said:


> A drug dealer, is worried abt a car being haraam and then ask money for its return? Hmmm how very Islamic of him


I think the 10K LE he asked for was what he had paid for the car to the original thief. Still ridiculous, I know


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I posted about this on my facebook... I have had 2 friends offering to make up his loss.. both Scots :clap2:


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

Thats nice


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## mamasue (Oct 7, 2008)

MaidenScotland said:


> I posted about this on my facebook... I have had 2 friends offering to make up his loss.. both Scots :clap2:




Sweet... you've got nice friends!!!:clap2:
When I lived in Egypt( Admittedly Hurghada, not Cairo) I was never afraid of violent crime.....OMG times have changed!!


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

What amazes me is 

We have an army in Egypt that is well equipped and trained.. 

We have a police force and police stations in all areas.

Outside forces/foreigners are to blame for all this nations problems.. yeah right.

Crime is on the increase.


So what exactly are these organisations doing to combat the problems?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Quite simply they have failed the country in this transition period..


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

MaidenScotland said:


> Outside forces/foreigners are to blame for all this nations problems.. yeah right.


I agree - but when were foreigners blamed? Maybe I missed something


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

Each Middle East dictator blamed foreign press, foreign insurgents, foreign beliefs and Al-Quida infiltration to cover up their own agendas.... The general public see through this.



Eco-Mariner


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

ArabianNights said:


> I agree - but when were foreigners blamed? Maybe I missed something



Foreigners are always to blame... according to the army.


They just can't admit that they are not fit to run the country..


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## PaulAshton (Nov 18, 2011)

Sorry to hear about that guy's horrible ordeal.

Someone sent this to me via email, the story appears to be true, I cannot however comment further.

I always felt safe here but now carry a piece of 14 inch heavy cast iron fence in my bag which is like a large metal rod with the spear part on the end, my excuse if caught I was going to go to Old Sharm to look for some metal paint.

We know the area and my wife and I were going to walk down it the other day but she would not go, I said it's safe but she refused. Must be a women's 6th Sense.

*"Warning: to Ladies (and Gentlemen) walking alone in dark areas of Sharm El Sheikh.
Yesterday a young woman was robbed by a man with a knife in the area between Metro supermarket (Kennedy area) and Aida Villas. There is a well used short cut to connect Hadaba and the old market.
She was unhurt but had her backpack taken by the man, he then tried to drag her down the hill to a secluded area. She fought and screamed and he ran away.
Please repost this if you want to warn others"*


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

PaulAshton said:


> Sorry to hear about that guy's horrible ordeal.
> 
> Someone sent this to me via email, the story appears to be true, I cannot however comment further.
> 
> ...


    

:Cry: :Cry: :Cry: :Cry: :Cry: :Cry:


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## marenostrum (Feb 19, 2011)

PaulAshton said:


> Sorry to hear about that guy's horrible ordeal.
> 
> Someone sent this to me via email, the story appears to be true, I cannot however comment further.
> 
> ...


How is Heliopolis doing in terms of crime?


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## PaulAshton (Nov 18, 2011)

marenostrum said:


> How is Heliopolis doing in terms of crime?


No idea I have not been there since the start of the school year, all I heard was that Tantawi went to the polling station and that was what I read on the news when I was there I had no issues besides people staring at me :confused2:

I will not return anytime soon until my mother arrives that will make the clan complete


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

PaulAshton said:


> No idea I have not been there since the start of the school year, all I heard was that Tantawi went to the polling station and that was what I read on the news when I was there I had no issues besides people staring at me :confused2:
> 
> I will not return anytime soon until my mother arrives that will make the clan complete


lol...why were people staring at you?


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## expatagogo (May 31, 2010)

He gets stared at for the same reason anyone who looks like they're from the west gets stared at: because we look different, and because we're from "the outside" (which is what my Egyptian friends call it).

It's tough at first because we're raised to believe staring is rude, so we believe people staring at us is rude. But staring isn't rude in Egypt, so it's full on okay to participate in it ourselves.

For what it's worth, it's not exclusive to Egypt at all.


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