Mansour Al-Shihri
RIYADH — The Directorate General of Intelligence, an affiliate of the Ministry of Interior, detained six people on the first two days of Ramadan for suspected involvement in breaches of national security.
The six are being investigated by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP).
Nafethah, an electronic portal which helps relatives communicate with detainees, updated the list on Friday. The updated page lists 5269 detainees.
The list shows that the security authorities detained six people during the first two days of Ramadan. On the first of Ramadan, the authorities detained four people: One Emirati, one Palestinian and two Saudis. Two other Saudis were detained on the second of Ramadan.
Earlier this month, a Canadian, who was legally staying in the Kingdom, was apprehended in Riyadh without any resistance.
The suspect, referred to by his initials S.M.H, is the first Canadian to be involved in terrorist activities in the Kingdom.
The number of Westerners being held in Saudi Arabia on terror charges has risen to 10 with the arrest of the Canadian expatriate.
The other nine Westerners are eight Americans who were arrested during the past two years and a Briton who was arrested about four years ago and is still in jail. He was accused of supporting Al-Qaeda and was apprehended inside the Kingdom.
The Interior Ministry announced in April 2015 that it had arrested 93 suspects, including a woman, belonging to Daesh (so-called IS). The ministry said 15 of them had established a terror cell under the name Jund Al-Haramain Al-Sharifain (soldiers of the land of the Two Holy Mosques).
They had reached an advanced level of planning before being arrested.
It was announced in February this year that security authorities were on the lookout for 154 wanted terror suspects named in nine lists published by the Ministry of Interior earlier.
Anyone providing information on any of these wanted men will receive a reward of SR1m. The reward will be increased to SR5 million in the event of providing information about more than one wanted suspect.
