Saudis give al Qaeda financiers a week to come clean

Arab News:

The Interior Ministry has warned anyone who may have positively responded to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri’s calls for donations that they will be penalized if they do not contact the ministry within a week to clarify their position.

In a statement issued yesterday, a ministry spokesman said it had obtained information about citizens and residents who received the voice message sent by Al-Qaeda’s second in command, while questioning 28 terror suspects arrested last week.

“The bearer of this message is one of our trusted brothers; therefore, please give him your donations to help hundreds of families of captives and martyrs in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Al-Zawahri said in the audio recording sent with a man who had come to the Kingdom to visit Makkah.

“The ministry calls upon all those who have established contacts with him on the basis of the message to inform it through telephone No. 990 within a week,” the statement said, adding that the grace period would end on Saturday evening.

The spokesman said contacting the ministry was essential to prove their innocence and clarify their position. “Measures will be taken in accordance with the law against the suspects after the expiry of the grace period,” he added.

Security agents found Al-Zawahri’s message on the memory card of a mobile phone of one of the 28 terror suspects whose arrest was announced March 3.

Since December 2007, Saudi security forces have arrested 56 suspects of different nationalities for allegedly planning to attack sites outside the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah during the last Haj season.

The men were reportedly in the process of rebuilding Al-Qaeda terror network in the Kingdom to launch another campaign of terror across the country.

The spokesman said investigations proved that the newly detained militants belonged to Al-Qaeda and had been in contact with its leadership abroad. They were also recruiting young men and sending them to different regions of the Kingdom to participate in activities that undermine the security of Saudi Arabia.

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The Saudi religious leaders have also spoken out against the donations and joining the ranks of the terrorist. This appears to be a serious effort to thwart an attempt by al Qaeda to reestablish a base in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have been pretty vigilant against domestic threats, but not so much when it comes to exports of terrorist. Just this week the US took down a Saudi facilitator in Mosul. Hopefully, their crackdown on the money trail will be more effective.