Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that it foiled two terror plots: One targeting police officers and the other a plan to detonate a car loaded with explosives near the Al-Jawhara Football Stadium in Jeddah three weeks ago. Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said at a press conference that they received credible information of the plot to target a football match between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, only days before the game was due to be played. Two Pakistanis, a Syrian and a Sudanese were arrested. They were identified as Sulaiman Arabdeen, Farmanullah Naqshband Khan (Pakistani nationals), Hassan Abdulkareem Haj Muhammad (Syrian), and Abdulazeem Al-Tahir Abdullah Ibrahim (Sudanese). The ministry also said that it has arrested a terror cell made of four Saudis based in the province of Shaqra in central Saudi Arabia. The cell had been communicating with a Daesh leader in Syria and had been receiving commands to carry out terror activities. The four Saudis have been identified as Ahmed Bin Muhammad Bin Hamoud Al-Maili, Abdullah Bin Obaid Bin Mehmas Al-Osaimi Al-Otaibi, Abdulaziz Bin Faisal Bin Jafeen Al-Dajani Al-Otaibi, Mujahid Bin Rasheed Bin Muhammad Al-Rasheed. In another operation, six other Saudis were arrested for their links with the Shaqra terror cell. They kept security men under surveillance in the regions of Riyadh, Tabuk and the Eastern Province and passed on the information to their contacts overseas. The Interior Ministry spokesman also said that eight Saudis and one Bahraini were found to be involved in terror activities in Al-Qatif governorate and Dammam city. These acts included targeting citizens, expats, security men, and sabotaging public utilities, security and economic installations. They were identified as Jafar Bin Hassan Makki Al-Mubeirik, Fadhil Abdullah Muhammad Aal Hamadah, Ali Bilal Saud Aal Hamad, Muhammad Bin Hussain Ali Aal Ammar, Maitham Bin Ali Muhammad Al-Qudaihi, Mufeed Hamza Bin Ali Alwan, Majid Bin Ali Abdul Rahim Al-Faraj, Ayman Ibrahim Hassan Al-Mukhtar, and Hassan Mahmood Ali Abdullah (Bahraini national). Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry urged the named individuals to turn themselves in to security authorities, and warned "whoever deals with them that he will make himself accountable." The Ministry of Interior also said that "whoever gives any information about those individuals that leads to their arrest will receive a financial reward of SR1,000,000. This reward will be increased to SR5,000,000 if the information leads to the arrest of more than one wanted individuals and to SR7,000,000 if the information leads to thwarting a terrorist operation."
