Qaeda terror suspects recently captured by Saudi authorities planned to kill journalists and officials with poisoned perfumes, it has been revealed. According to information obtained by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, the suspects planned to mix the perfumes with a fatal substance and send the bottles as gifts to the workplaces and homes of officials, security officers, and journalists. This was a new tactic of Al-Qaeda, said a Ministry of Interior official. Armed robbery To finance their criminal operations they planned to rob banks and companies, similar to attacks in Iraq by elements of an organization known as the “Islamic State of Iraq”. It targeted banks and financial institutions for their cash. The Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen, is believed to be in financial crisis. They had been using a woman, Haila Al-Qussayer, also known as Umm Arabbab, to collect money under the cover of raising donations for orphans, the poor, and building of mosques. Suicide attackers' entry Members of the cells were helping suicide bombers gain entry into the Kingdom across the border with Yemen, to carry out suicide attacks on civil and military facilities. They were to give the bombers shelter and transport until they could carry out their missions. This had happened with Yousif Al-Shehri and Raed Al-Harbi who were both killed by security officials at Hamra Al-Darb checkpoint on the Coast Road of Jizan in March 2009. These two were on the list of 85 most-wanted suspects sought by the Saudi authorities. They were transporting explosive belts prepared for suicide attacks. Rigged mobile phones The detained suspects had also been carrying out experiments to make explosives and rig mobile phones. They were planning to use them in terrorist attacks similar to the failed attempt of the terrorist Abdullah Asiri, to assassinate Prince Muhammad Bin Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs at his palace in Jeddah on Aug. 27, 2009. It was also similar to the parcel bombs that were discovered at Dubai Airport and another in Britain before they reached their targets in Chicago, USA last month, following the successful tip-off by the authorities in the Kingdom. These types of devices have been uncovered before by the Saudi authorities. Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior announced on Aug. 29, 2009 that the authorities had seized 280 electronic circuits, used to detonate bombs by remote control, buried in a valley bed near Riyadh. Similar circuits were found in the desert near one of the governorates of Al-Qassim region.
