Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Interior Minister, confirmed that the new list of wanted suspected terrorists came as a result of intensive surveillance of the terrorists by the security forces.
He made these remarks at a press conference after the graduation ceremony of the Arab Naif University for Security Sciences here last night.
In reply to a question about the suspects who were abroad, he said: "There is cooperation with many countries, especially Arab countries and a number of detainees were exchanged with other countries."
With regard to the border dispute with the United Arab Emirates, Prince Naif stressed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were working as a team to solve some issues remaining in the agreement signed in 1974. He said that he did not know why there were false reports about this issue. He added: "I hope that the media look for the truth in their reports and respect the public opinion."
Answering a question about the causeway between Qatar and the UAE, Prince Naif said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia might have protested to the two countries because the bridge would pass through the Saudi regional water.
Prince Naif pointed out that the suspects on the old 26-person list and the new suspects belonged to the same organization, even though they operated differently.
In response to a question that some of the wanted terrorists were in Iraq, he said: "We have no information about their location and whether they are alive or dead".
Asked if the Interior Ministry will announce that some countries or international organisations were supporting the terrorists, he pointed out that the Saudi officials were not in the habit of speculating. If there was support, it should be proven.
Commenting on the UAE's demand for the complete sovereignty of regional water, Prince Naif said: "Our Emirati brothers know that the Kingdom has its regional water which is proven by Saudi borders and agreement."
On the prospect of banning foreign travel for Saudi youth under the age of 25, he pointed out that we should not lose our trust in our young people.
As regards the security cooperation with Iran, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Prince Naif said that the cooperation with Yemen was excellent and with Syria it was very good. Cooperation with Iran would also be improved after a meeting with Dr. Rawhani. "Moreover, Saudi Arabia is ready to cooperate with Iraq, but there are no desired channels of cooperation."
Asked to comment on ways of punishing the terrorists, he said that it would be just, clear and complete since it was based on the Islamic law.
Prince Naif noted that the suspects on the new list might not be the most dangerous and that there could by more dangerous individuals who had not been identified yet.
Asked to comment on what was raised by the U.S. Secretary of State during her recent visit to the Kingdom about some detainees in the Kingdom and her call to release them, Prince Naif replied that this was an internal affair and no one had the right to talk about this.
"We have not said that the terror acts are over. There is still possibility of other crimes, but 90 percent of these acts were stopped by the security forces," Prince Naif added.
Prince Naif stressed that the Kingdom was not sure if the wanted suspect, Abdullah Al-Rushood, was killed in Iraq and what his relations with the Al-Qaeda were.
He affirmed that the speed of arresting those who killed the security man in Makkah showed the capability of the Saudi forces and the high-technology used.
Asked to comment if there was any link between the terrorist group and the "Muslim Ikhwan" group, Prince Naif said that it was known that the leader of this work was Abdullah Azzam who was in Egypt and Pakistan and Al-Dhwahri belonged to this group. "This is all the information we have and we cannot talk about things which have not been proved."
