18 people arrested for spying for Iran in Saudi Arabia including 1 Iranian

[Salaf_us_Saleh]

Initial investigations with the 18 people accused of espionage revealed they have a connection to Iranian intelligence, Saudi’s interior ministry said Tuesday.

An interior ministry spokesperson said last week that 16 of those arrested were Saudi, one Lebanese and one Iranian, adding they were captured in four different areas of the kingdom.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the suspects were found in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Eastern Province – where the country’s Shi’ite minority is concentrated.

The General Intelligence Presidency and the Saudi interior ministry caught the men in a joint operation, said the report, adding the ministry “received information on Saudis and expats spying for another country.”

The men were collecting data on “vital installation,” said the state news agency.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said most of those arrested were from one sect, adding that they were spying for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Among those involved is a doctor and another is a Shi’ite cleric,” he said. “Others were working at [the Saudi oil company] Aramco.”

There are an estimated two million Shi’ites in the Sunni-dominated kingdom of about 27.5 million people.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry denied on Sunday the alleged accusation Saudi Arabia made of the country’s involvement in the linked group of alleged spies.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denied that an Iranian national was involved in the alleged spying and called the allegations a “repetitive scenario,” according to Iran’s English-language Press TV on Sunday.

“Raising such baseless issues at the media level is merely for domestic consumption,” he said, according to Press TV.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/iran-saudi-spy-480052

 

[Salaf_us_Saleh]

The charge against 18 suspected spies who were arrested by Saudi police on Sunday have been confirmed. Their espionage activities for Iran have been recorded in sound and picture, the local media reported yesterday quoting informed security sources.
“Saudi security agents have recorded most of the meetings of these spies,” one source told Al-Hayat Arabic daily. The suspected spies will be interrogated before their trial. The source did not rule out the possibility of a non-Saudi leading the espionage cell, although it included 16 Saudis, in addition to an Iranian and a Lebanese.
Zuhair Al-Harthi, a member of the Shoura Council, called on the government to retaliate diplomatically against Tehran if its involvement in the case is confirmed. “This represents an unprecedented escalation in Saudi-Iranian relations,” he pointed out.
Al-Harthi warned against Tehran’s expansionary ambitions, citing discovery of similar Iranian spy networks in Yemen, Kuwait and Bahrain. He said the arrest of spies would harm Iran’s relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani denounced the moves to plant spy and terrorist cells in member countries to undermine the security and stability of the bloc. He reiterated the GCC’s support for Saudi Arabia for the measures it would take to deal with such spy networks. “GCC security is an inseparable entity and the attack on the security of a member country would be considered an attack on all members,” he added.
Jamal Khashoggi, director of Al-Arab news channel, highlighted the worsening Saudi-Iran relations. “There is an undeclared war between the two countries and it has taken different forms,” he told Al-Sharq daily. He said Saudi Arabia had tried to improve its relations with Tehran but the latter has not reciprocated positively. He called on the Shiites in the Kingdom to be aware of Iranian plots as “you belong to this nation.”
He added: “The Iranian espionage to collect information about vital Saudi installations is a matter of deep concern.” Khashoggi said Iran is now fighting its last battle in Syria. “It knows very well that its failure in Syria would cost it dearly,” he said, adding that Tehran has lost its credibility as a result of its stance in Syria.
Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, former president of Naif Arab University of Security Sciences, said Iran was playing the sectarian card to recruit agents to serve its interests. He said Iran has been expanding its spy network in the region after the American occupation of Iraq. “Iranian spies have been found in Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.”
He emphasized the need to enlighten Saudi citizens against falling victim to foreign intelligence agencies. “Our security machinery should launch a new campaign to revive awareness among citizens like it did before,” Al-Ghamdi said.

http://www.arabnews.com/news/445668