SANAA, 2 July 2003 — More than 3,000 soldiers from the Yemeni Army were deployed along the Saudi border last week to help Yemeni border guards curb infiltration and smuggling into Saudi Arabia, Yemeni security officials told Arab News yesterday.
“Units of the armored corps of the army’s northern sector have been deployed in the porous areas of the border with Saudi Arabia to contain the increasing infiltration and smuggling activities,” a Yemeni Interior Ministry official told Arab News.
“Those units comprise more than 3,000 well-trained soldiers,” he added.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the deployment was agreed by the Interior Ministries of both countries, taking into consideration the fact that “security constitutes a common concern for the two countries.”
Yemeni police sources also told Arab News yesterday that a search for three Saudis who reportedly entered Yemen after a jailbreak in the southern province of Najran was under way in three Yemeni provinces bordering Saudi Arabia.
Two of the three men helped the third, Jerwan ibn Hamad Al-Abdan, a suspected drug trafficker, escape from a Najran prison and reportedly sneaked into Yemeni territories in mid-June.
Saudi authorities have alerted Yemen about their escape and asked for their capture and extradition.
“The wanted men are being hunted across Al-Jauf, Saada and Hajja provinces. All security apparatuses in the three provinces are in pursuit of them,” said the police official on condition of anonymity.
