Ibrahim Alawi
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — A total of 906 Saudis were arrested for terror related activities during the past four months, according to a source at the Ministry of Interior.
There are 4,777 terrorists detained in the prisons of the General Investigation Directorate since 2009, he said.
The list includes citizens from Trinidad and Tobago, Kirgizstan, Nigeria, Algeria, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and China. Yemenis top the list with 306 suspects, followed by Syrians with 135, Pakistanis with 43, and Egyptians with 35, the source said.
The list also includes 23 Chadians and Eritreans, 15 Jordanians, 13 Indians, 11 Bahrainis, nine Ethiopians, seven Iraqis, six Sudanese, four Palestinians and three Somalis.
There are also European and Western nationals involved in terrorism against the Kingdom.
There is an American detained on terror charges and a British as well as a French. Some 23 of the detained terrorists have no identity. Fifteen of them are still under investigation while the rest are under trial, said the source.
On Saturday, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of two foreign nationals — a Syrian man and a Filipina — for involvement in terror activities.
The security agencies found in Al-Fayhaa area of Riyadh an integrated factory for manufacturing explosive materials, vests and belts. They seized two explosive belts, a machine-gun with three magazines and 88 rounds, two hard disk drives and three cameras.
Another location in the capital was found to be a hideout for intending suicide bombers.
Last month, two terrorists were killed and three others arrested during four simultaneous security operations in Riyadh and Dammam.
The ministry confirmed that the cell was linked to Yousaf Al-Suleiman, the suicide bomber who blew himself up at the mosque in the compound of the Special Emergency Forces Center in Abha that killed 15 people, including 12 soldiers, on Aug. 6.
The cell had been planning to carry out terrorist attack in the Kingdom and preparations were in an advanced stage.
