The ministry said many of the detainees were Arab and Muslim nationals,
including from Bangladesh, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The
detainees included 51 Yemenis and 47 Saudis.
Officials said the detainees, identified in mid-2009, formed three
separate cells of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. They said most of the
operatives, found with guns, ammunition and cameras, were captured near the
Saudi border with Yemen.
Officials said Saudi intelligence agencies learned the identities of the
detainees after the killing of two Al Qaida agents in October 2009. The
agents were found with four explosive belts.
"The two had infiltrated the country through the Yemeni border to carry
out terrorist operations," ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al Turki
said. "This incident shows that Al Qaida was using individuals inside the
kingdom to carry out their operations."
The ministry said 12 Al Qaida operatives, all but one of them Saudi
nationals, were captured along the Yemeni border. The statement said the two
suspected cells were preparing to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. In
2006, Al Qaida stormed the Abqaiq oil processing plant in eastern Saudi Arabia.
"The 12 in the two cells were suicide bombers," Al Turki said. "We have
compelling evidence against all of those arrested that they were plotting
terrorist attacks inside the kingdom."