Faris Al-Qahtani Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The Ministry of the Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Call and Guidance has been monitoring guards in all mosques, said a spokesman for the ministry. Commenting on a recent statement by the Ministry of Interior that said two terror cells in Riyadh and Jeddah were using residential quarters attached to a mosque to store arms and ammunition, he said the ministry takes all steps to prevent unauthorized personnel from living in any of the mosque facilities. Security personnel found chemicals used for manufacturing explosives and detonation devices at an accommodation attached to a mosque in Riyadh, an Interior Ministry statement said last week. Six suspected members of a terrorist cell, all of them Yemenis, were arrested during the raid on the site. Incriminating documents and an undisclosed amount of cash were seized from these locations. Meanwhile, the imam of a Taif mosque has complained about authorities' indifference to calls for regulating accommodations inside mosques. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Abdullah says there is no system to monitor the housing facilities for imams and muezzins and this opens doors for renting out these quarters to people who are not authorized to live in these places. He pointed out that the mosques that contain housing in Taif constituted only 10 percent of all mosques in the region. However, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwairiqi, director of mosques in Taif province, told a local daily that imams and muezzins could rent out houses assigned to them and benefit from the revenue if they were not sufficient for their families or if they own houses nearby.
