Egypt arrests killers of Yemeni military official

The Ministry of Interior in Egypt announced on Monday the arrest of five people on charges of killing a prominent Yemeni military official inside his apartment in the Giza Governorate. The murder took place one week after his arrival to the capital, Cairo. His body was found two days after he disappeared after the perpetrators bound his arms and feet and gagged him.

On Sunday, the Yemeni Embassy in Egypt announced the killing of the Director of the Military Manufacturing Department at the Yemeni Ministry of Defence in the Aden government, Brigadier General Hassan Farhan Bin Jalal Al-Obaidi, 50, in his apartment in the Egyptian Giza Governorate.

The ministry said, in a statement, that the defendants confessed to killing a Yemeni individual at his residence in Giza. Two of them were friends with him and he had invited them to visit his home, after which they sought the help of the rest of their partners in the crime and proceeded to kill him in order to steal from him.

The perpetrators, the ministry added, put drugs in the victim’s drink, then stabbed him with a sharp object and stole his money. They said they stole the rental car, the weapon used to commit the crime, a firearm and a number of bullets, officials said.

The ministry named the defendants as: Ramadan Muhammad Balidi Ali, 29, who works as a driver and resides in the Al-Munira Al-Gharbiyah area in Giza. He had been a suspect in several cases, most notably: murder, carrying a weapon without a licence and theft, and Abdel Rahman Ashraf Shehata Mustafa, 19, who lives in the Al-Tawabeq area in Giza.

The list of defendants also included a 22-year-old housewife named Israa Saber Muhammad Attia who resides in the Manshiyet Nasser neighbourhood in Cairo and 17-year-old Suhair Abdel Halim Muhammad Abdel Halim from the same neighbourhood. Along with Aya Reda Mahmoud, 23 , a resident at the Auseem Centre in Giza. Aya is the daughter of the first defendant’s wife and was previously a suspect in a drug case.

The statement noted that the defendants stole sums of money from the victim, consisting of foreign and local currencies, some personal belongings, as well as a rental car that was located near his residence, which they used to flee.

The media attaché at the Yemeni embassy in Cairo, Baligh Al-Mikhlafi, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “Brigadier General Al-Obaidi arrived in Cairo 20 days ago, left for Turkiye, and returned to Cairo a week ago.”

He added: “His brother lost contact with him last Thursday evening, so his brother went, along with a few others, opened the apartment, and found him dead, before contacting the security services and the embassy.”

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