E-Media:
Riyadh –The Ministry of Interior said Wednesday that 44 suspects members of Al-Qaeda had been arrested between July 9 and Aug. 2 of this year in operations that further uncovered hidden arms caches in Riyadh and the province of Qassim.
Ministry spokesman, according to Saudi Press Agency, said that all but one of the detained were Saudis and that they held high educational qualifications.
“They have experience in advanced technical expertise and some of them have received training in heavy and light weapons-use both inside the Kingdom and abroad, as well as in making explosives and forging documents for use by elements of the deviant group,” Ministry of Interior's spokesman said.
The ministry statement Wednesday detailed the nature of the arms discovered, citing 17 Kalashnikov machine guns, 12 cases of live ammunition and 280 electronic remote detonation devices found buried in a valley close to the city of Riyadh, along with 96 similar detonators buried in a remote area of Qassim.
Fifty machine guns, 39 ammunition magazines and 15,000 rounds of ammunition were also found in a specially constructed “hiding place” of reinforced concrete in a courtyard room at the house of one of the detained in a residential district of Riyadh city.
The Ministry's spokesman added that investigations are still underway to reveal more links with the leaders of the group outside and ways of using charity work to finance their criminal activities.