RIYADH, 6 August 2004 — Saudi security forces yesterday arrested Faris Ahmed Jamaan Al-Zahrani, the No. 11 on a list of most wanted 26 terrorists published by the Interior Ministry last December. According to Al-Arabiya satellite television, Zahrani, 27, surrendered to police “without putting up any resistance” in a park in the southern resort city of Abha following a chase of several hours.
Only 11 terrorists — nine Saudis and two Moroccans — on the list now remain at large as others have either been killed in clashes with security forces or surrendered to authorities during the past months.
A security source told Arab News that Zahrani, at the time of his arrest, was carrying a hand grenade but did not use it. Zahrani was with another person, not listed as a terrorist, when he was picked up by the security forces.
Following a tip-off, police had been closely monitoring Zahrani’s movements from the time he entered the city about 24 hours before his arrest. The arrest was made on the Ring Road in Abha behind the Sawa resort in Abu Khayyal mountains. No one was injured in the operation.
Zahrani is one of the most prominent ideologues of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom. He is married with two children. He graduated from the Shariah College of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University’s Abha branch. He is also wanted for embezzlement of SR500,000.
Saudi Arabia stepped up its campaign against terrorists after the bombing of residential compounds in Riyadh on May 12 last year. Al-Qaeda sympathizers are blamed for a series of terror attacks in the Kingdom that left some 90 people dead and hundreds wounded. Security forces killed Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, the No. 1 on the list and the local leader of Al-Qaeda on June 18 with his three associates during a gunbattle in Riyadh.
The four were shot dead shortly after they publicized pictures of the beheading of American engineer Paul Johnson, who had been abducted in the capital.
Two terrorists surrendered to the authorities last month just hours before the expiry of a royal pardon. The one-month amnesty was announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd on June 23. The amnesty was not extended.
One of the two terrorists, Fawzan ibn Nasser ibn Ahmad Al-Fawzan, surrendered to the Saudi Embassy in Damascus. The other, Fayez ibn Rasheed ibn Muhammad Al-Khushman Al-Dosari, surrendered in Taif.
The amnesty said all those affiliated to this group which wronged itself and who were not captured have a chance to return to God and engage in soul-searching. Those who turn themselves in of their own will be secure in the security of God as far as they are concerned, and will be treated according to God’s law pertaining to the rights of others.
