Manama: Two Yemeni Al Qaida militants are standing trial in Riyadh for allegedly planning a terrorist operation.
They were instructed by the terrorist group to call the Ministry of Interior and tell them that they planned to surrender themselves to Saudi security authorities, according to the public prosecutor.
The men worked to gain the trust of one ministry officer by feeding him false information and details of the group.
Once they established his trust they agreed to meet at a security point on the Saudi-Yemeni border.
However, during their meeting the officers became aware that the men were misleading them and only wanted to gather details about the security situation at that border post and were immediately arrested, the Saudi daily Okaz reported on Thursday.
The first defendant, 32, was charged with being a member of Al Qaida in Yemen, plotting to carry out a suicide attack, communicating with a Daesh terrorist in Syria, smoking hashish and renegging on a pledge he made five years ago when he was released from prison over another security-linked case.
Charges against the second defendant, 34, included being a member of Al Qaida and Daesh, plotting with the first defendant to carry out a terrorist attack and giving false and misleading information to Saudi authorities for cash.
He was also charged with funding terror attacks by purchasing arms for Al Qaida.
The prosecutor requested the death penalty for the two defendants or the maximum penalty stipulated by the law.
The accused told the Specialised Criminal Court they wanted some time to prepare their defence against the charges.
