Manama: Saudi security agencies obtained information about a terror threat targeting the Jawhara Stadium in the Red Sea city of Jeddah during a football World Cup qualifier match between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on October 11, the interior ministry spokesperson said.
The information, received two days before the match, said that terrorists planned to detonate car parked in the stadium parking lot, the spokesperson added.
“Tighter security measures were taken and more troops were deployed to ensure prompt and decisive action against any suspect or suspicious activity. Greater field work resulted in the identification and arrest of the suspects one day before the match,” he said.
The suspects were two Pakistanis, one Syrian and one Sudanese.
The game went ahead without any incident and Saudi Arabia won 3-0.
In a separate case, Saudi Arabia busted a four-member terror cell that attacked security men and had links with a leader from the Daesh terror group, the spokesperson for the interior ministry said.
The four were arrested after the security agencies launched investigation into terror threats targeting the kingdom, the spokesperson said.
The arrangements for the terror attacks had reached an advanced stage, prompting the authorities to deploy extra efforts and pre-empt the plot, he added.
The probes revealed that the terrorists were active in Shaqra, around 200 kilometres northwest of the capital Riyadh, and worked closely with Daesh in Syria.
The four suspects, all Saudi nationals, admitted their activities and their links with Daesh and confessed they had monitored several security men in Riyadh, Tabuk and the Eastern Province and conveyed their details to the terror group as part of a plan to target them at a later stage according to the instructions they will receive.
The spokesperson said that six other suspects, all Saudi nationals, were arrested over their link with the cell.
In another statement, the interior ministry spokesperson said that nine people were identified by an investigation in terror-linked cases.
The terrorists, eight Saudi nationals and one Bahraini, were implicated in attacks that targeted Saudis, expatriates and security men in Al Qatif and Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The terrorists sought to damage public facilities and security and business establishments and to stall public life, the spokesperson said.
The interior ministry in its statement called on the suspects to surrender to the security authorities and warned against dealing with them in any way.
“Those who dealt with the suspects in the past and were used to provide them with services should see this statement as an opportunity to clarify with the security agencies their stances in order to avoid being held as accomplices or legally accountable for their acts,” the ministry said.
“Those with details about any of the suspects should contact a security agency promptly and receive rewards of one million Saudi Riyals if their information leads to the arrest of one suspect. The reward is increased to five million Saudi Riyals in case two suspects are arrested and to seven million in case an act of terrorism is foiled.”
