SANAA, 11 July 2003 — Yemen and Saudi Arabia are to exchange 13 suspects being held in both countries on terror charges, including three Yemenis believed to be masterminds of last year’s attack on a French oil tanker off Yemen, Yemeni government sources said yesterday. Sanaa will hand over to Saudi authorities five wanted suspects, and Riyadh in return will extradite eight Yemeni suspects, reported the 26 September military newspaper, which is close to the office of Yemeni president.
The paper, citing an unidentified security official, said contacts were under way between the two countries to exchange the suspects, whom it did not identify. It did not say when the exchange would take place.
Yemeni government officials told Arab News that among the eight suspects to be extradited to Yemen were three suspected of involvement in the bombing of the French supertanker Limburg.
They said the three men are accused of planning and financing the Oct. 6 attack before fleeing to Saudi Arabia. The attackers used a remote-controlled boat laden with explosives to blow up the tanker at the Ad-Dabba oil export terminal on the Arabian Sea. One crewmember was killed.
Acting under a joint security pact, Saudi Arabia in March handed over to Yemen two men suspected of involvement in the Limburg attack. Four other terror suspects were released by Saudi police to Yemen in May. Yemeni officials would not say whether the five suspects to be handed over to Saudi authorities include three Saudis who reportedly entered Yemen after a jailbreak in Najran in mid-June.
Two of the three men helped the third, Jerwan ibn Hamad Al-Abdan, a suspected drug trafficker, escape from a Najran prison and sneaked into Yemeni territory. Saudi authorities alerted Yemen to their escape and asked for help in their capture and extradition.
The two neighbors pledged during a eeting of the Saudi Yemeni Cooperation Council co-chaired by Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Yemeni premier Abdul-Qader Bajammal in Sanaa last week to strengthen security cooperation and fight against terrorism.
