Mohammed Alkhereiji& Tariq Al-Homayed

JEDDAH, 5 September 2003 — A high-ranking official at the Ministry of the Interior yesterday denied a report on the BBC English language news website claiming that a consignment of surface-to-air missiles was intercepted last month on a desert road near Jeddah.

Remarkably, the denial was reported by BBC Arabic, the BBC’s Arabic language news site.

The official said the Interior Ministry had announced the seizure of a repair truck containing weapons including rocket-propelled grenades two weeks ago but that it had originated from Qunfudha in Jizan, near the Saudi-Yemeni border, and was intercepted outside Makkah, not on a desert road near Jeddah.

BBC security analyst Frank Garner, when asked whether he was aware that the story had been reported two weeks ago, told Arab News: “I was not aware that the statement was previously reported outside of Saudi Arabia.”

But a spokesman for the British Embassy concurred that the story had previously been reported.

“This is nothing new. We think that the article is based on a report in the Saudi press on Aug. 26, which dealt with an arms cache that had been recently discovered,” he told Arab News.