Mohammed Alkhereiji, Arab News Staff

JEDDAH, 23 December 2003 — Large quantities of cash discovered on some of the suspects who were captured as part of a campaign to uproot terrorism came from unauthorized charity boxes, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

“During the investigations with the terrorists who were caught, it became clear that some of them carried large quantities of money, and its sources were charity boxes that did not comply with official standards and regulations,” Saud Al-Musaibeeh of the Ministry of the Interior told the Al-Watan Arabic daily.

“The terrorists were collecting the money from those boxes that were being put in mosques, colleges, schools and markets and carried pictures of war victims,” Al-Musaibeeh added.

The spokesperson added that the government will issue in the next few days a booklet with pictures and information about the wanted terrorists in seven languages and distribute it throughout the Kingdom.

A hotline has been set up for people to report any suspicious activity, said Al-Musaibeeh citing the example of a Saudi citizen who called in after sighting one of the 26 wanted men on a list the government made public on Dec. 6.

On Dec. 8, security forces killed Ibrahim Al-Rayes, who figured on the list, in Riyadh. “That citizen who informed collected SR1 million and a certificate of appreciation from the Interior Ministry less than two hours after the (killing) of Al-Rayes,” said Al-Musaibeeh.

Meanwhile, border guard officials have denied reports that 100 surface-to-air missiles were seized while they were being smuggled into Saudi Arabia via Yemen.

“We have no information about the seizure of any weapons while being smuggled into the Kingdom,” Maj. Gen. Saleh Al-Sentali, head of the border guards in Jizan, was quoted as saying by Al-Watan. “If there had been a weapons seizure of this magnitude, we would have been notified immediately.”

Officials from both the Najran and Asir border regions have also denied any such seizure.

“Weapons seizures are common on the southern border,” a security source told Arab News. “Since the May 12 bombings in Riyadh, the border guards have intercepted and confiscated dozens of grenades, over 2,000 sticks of dynamite, hundreds of bazookas, over 90,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 1,200 other weapons. It’s a proof of the border patrol’s hard work and effort,” he added.

— Additional input from agencies