RIYADH: Saudi security forces are continuing to hunt for more militants following the arrest of 701 people over suspected plots to bomb oil installations and security targets this year, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.
“Raids are being carried out across the Kingdom to foil any terrorist plots and arrest suspects,” said Lt. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, the ministry’s official spokesman.
“The security agencies are keeping constant vigil on all suspected activities, but I don’t have any report about the detention of anyone after Wednesday’s announcement,” he said.
“The arrests of 701 people doesn’t mean that our mission has come to an end,” Al-Turki told Arab News. “The operations will continue, more efforts will be exerted and more arrests will be made.”
Of the 701 suspects detained so far this year, 520 are still being held while 181 have been released.
The Interior Ministry periodically announces arrests and terror sweeps over a number of months. In November 2007, the ministry revealed that over 200 suspects had been arrested in raids in different parts of the country.
Prison factories
In reply to a question about plans to set up a $500-million “industrial zone” behind the walls of a prison complex in Riyadh, Al-Turki emphasized that the zone would be for the general prison population.
“This facility is not for terrorists,” he said. “Ordinary criminals will be given chance to work in that industrial zone.”
The Saudi Organization for Industrial Estates and Technology Zones (SOIETZ) has approved the plan for the industrial zone inside the high-security Al-Hair Prison, 40 km south of Riyadh.
The head of the prison recently signed a contract with SOIETZ to attract private sector investments to the industrial zone, which would create 3,000 to 5,000 jobs.
It is not clear what industries will be targeted inside the zone, which has been allocated one million square meters of land.
