Intensive searches continue in Egypt to locate missing Saudi citizen

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

CAIRO — The Egyptian security authorities and the Saudi Embassy in Cairo have beefed up their search operation and efforts to locate Saudi citizen Hattan bin Ghazi Shata, who has been missing for over a month.

The Egyptian security authorities, who are in charge of Public Security and Criminal Investigation, were tasked with quickly uncovering the mystery behind the disappearance of the young Saudi man. This was confirmed by an official source in the Egyptian Ministry of Interior while speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette. The source revealed that there is close follow-up from all security authorities to find out his whereabouts. They are in contact with the young man’s friends and all those who were close to him.

The Egyptian security agencies have sent a circular to all hospitals in Greater Cairo region, including Cairo, Giza and Qalyubia in their attempt to locate him. The source said that the security authorities are conducting extensive investigations in the Rehab City neighborhood in Cairo, including checking the surveillance cameras to find out his movements and identify those who were in his company.

Social media platforms widely circulated the news of the disappearance of the young man with the hashtag #Missing_Hattan with his pictures in the hope of finding him since he left his home nearly a month ago, in the midst of collective calls to search for him.

The Saudi embassy in Cairo said on Thursday that it has been exerting all necessary efforts to find out the whereabouts of Shata. In a statement on its X account, the embassy noted that it has been closely following up on the extensive search efforts to locate Shata, and that is in coordination with his family.

The Embassy said that since the first day of Shata’s disappearance, it has been in contact with security authorities in Egypt. Search efforts also focused on surveillance cameras that documented Shata leaving his area of residency in El Tagamoa El Khamis in New Cairo before he went missing.

Speaking to Al-Arabiya.Net, Hani Shata, Hattan’s brother, said that his family is in a difficult condition since his missing due to the lack of sufficient information about him. Shata, who has a personal Instagram page that describes him as a personal coach, has been missing since April 22, according to the brother.

Hani has created an Instagram page in hopes anyone can share information that can help locate his brother. He has also been in Egypt to follow up with the authorities and to help search for his brother. “We don’t know what happened. All scenarios are on the table, I don’t rule out any scenario…what matters to me is to find him,” he said. Hani said that his brother was working in the field of “life coaching,” and he frequently goes to Cairo to attend training courses. He explained that Hattan is married and has a daughter, and he recently went to Egypt to study and develop his expertise in his field of consulting work. “We were in constant contact with him until the day of his missing and we informed the Egyptian security authorities at the moment Hattan went missing,” he added.