Manama: Saudi security authorities arrested 54 terror suspects on the first nine days of Dhul Hijja, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar.
The suspects were from nine countries.
According to the figures published by Saudi daily Al Watan on Saturday, 30 of the suspects were from Saudi Arabia, 13 from Bahrain, and the others from Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, Syria and Iraq.
On the first day of the month that sees the conglomeration of around two million Muslims in Makkah to perform Haj, the fifth tenet of Islam, the authorities arrested 17 suspects who included nine Bahrainis, three Pakistanis, two Saudis, one Yemeni and one Sudanese.
No arrests were made on the second day, but five suspects – two Bahrainis, two Saudis and one Yemeni – were detained.
The next day, six Saudis, two Bahrainis, two Yemenis, one Syrian and one Iraqi were arrested, according to reports.
On the fifth day, two Saudis and one Syrian were held while on the sixth day, only one Saudi was held.
Five more Saudis were arrested over the seventh and eighth days while on Arafa Day, when Muslims spend the who day in prayers and supplications at the site in the outskirts of Makkah, 10 suspects from Saudi Arabia and one from Brunei were arrested, the figures showed.
Saudi authorities had repeatedly warned of a strict zero-tolerance policy towards any form or manifestation of terrorism or extremism in the country, particularly during the Haj season which started on Saturday and ended on Thursday.
