Nipped in the bud: Cairo Police have thwarted a bid by two ex-convicts to kill one of their enemies. The pair were heading by motorbike from el-Darb el-Ahmar to Medinat el-Salem, where they were planningto kill their intended victim, when the police pulled them over. The fact that Mohamed Meheni (31), aka Meeza, who'd done time for pickpocketing, and his friend, Mohamed Attia (41), who has a string of convictions for drug offences, were both tooled up was of immediate interestto the arresting officers. They admitted that they were planning to kill the manwho'd beaten up Meeza's brother. Fishmonger's fatal fancy: A fishmonger from el-Marg who'd done time for narcotic offences was murdered by his friend in the former's flat. The victim had invited round the suspect and his wife, then tried to rape the woman. Sayyed Yehia (45) died of stab wounds in his home in Ezbet el-Nakhl. He was killed by Raafat Kheir (50), a seasoned pickpocket, who is married the orfi (unregistered) way to a pretty 21-year-old lass called Nisma Qurni (aka Warda). The three of them spent the evening inhaling joints, drinking alcohol and gambling. It was probably the booze and drugs that addled Sayyed's senses and made him try to rape his friend's wife. Raafat reacted by knifing him, while Nisma hit their victim on the head with a beer bottle. Where is Faten?: On May 10, a young married woman, wearing all her fine jewellery, worth more than LE15,000, went missing from home. She went to the market that morning and never came back. Her family spent the whole day and the following night looking for her, but alas to no avail. The missing teenager's family are obviously desperate to know what's happened to her. Faten Abdel-Hamid (19) and Hussein Ali were already related by blood before they got married. They live in two places, sometimes with his parents in el-Khosous, el-Qaliubia Governorate, and sometimes with Faten'sfamily in el-Mataria. It's a good arrangement, because Hussein has to work away for home for 14 days, then gets a week off. On the day that Faten disappeared, Hussein kissed her goodbye at her parents'home in el-Mataria and drove off to work at the end of his week's holiday in his car. He advised his wife to buy the family's groceries for the whole week, so she wouldn't have to keep going to the market and tiring herself out. The couple were in high spirits, as Fatenhad just discovered that she was expecting their first baby. When he got to work, Hussein rang his wife on her mobile, but it was closed. He rang several more times and it was still closed. He was now very anxious, so he drove back to el-Mataria. Faten's parents told Hussein that she hadn't come home from the market, so they started searching for her. The following morning, he reported his wife missing from home at e -Mataria Police Station. Now, Hussein believes that 'missing from home' should be replaced by 'kidnapped'. Hajj Abdel-Hamid, the missing woman's father, also believes she was kidnapped, and that because she was wearing all her finery. “Faten and her sister got married on the same night. I liked them to wear their jewellery when they went out, because I was so proud of them,” he said.
