Suspect plotted to form a terror army

An alleged member of the so-called “Cell 55” planned to set up a terrorist outfit called Al-Asadi Islamic Army, a special criminal court trying alleged militants in Riyadh was told Sunday.
The aim of the army, according to the public prosecutor, was to kidnap senior government officials in a southern province, assassinate a well-known Saudi journalist and launch other terror attacks.
The list of charges was read out in the presence of the defendant.
The defendant also used to surf the Internet to research a poisonous substance that could cause instant death through mere contact but would be nearly impossible to detect, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also alleged the defendant was trying to discover ways to break voice recognition locks.
He also broke his declaration of allegiance to the Kingdom’s rulers by switching allegiance to Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor accused another alleged member of “Cell 55” of hiding a Syrian expatriate at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah with the aim of smuggling him into Iraq.
Another suspected cell member was accused of offering shelter to a number of terrorists and providing them food as well as helping them to make explosives.
The charges against other defendants include providing training to militants on breaking down and assembling machine guns, misleading police who were chasing wanted terrorists and financing terrorists who were plotting to attack French citizens in the Kingdom.
The list of charges also included providing ID cards to a terrorist so he could hire a building that was to be used as a shelter for a terror leader and his accomplices.
Another defendant is accused of spying on foreigners living in a building complex, although no successful terror attack could be carried out in the area because of tight security. The same defendant was also allegedly involved in the attack against the US Consulate in Jeddah.
One of the alleged cell members who was also a member of the banned Al-Tabligh group was involved in the attack against American and British citizens at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, the public prosecutor said, adding he had also threatened to commit suicide in prison.
Another defendant was accused of hiring a car to infiltrate the US Consulate in Jeddah, while
another cell member was accused of disguising his brother as a woman and taking him to a town in the Madinah province to escape from investigators.
Some defendants were allegedly involved in arranging meetings with promoters of deviant ideologies and participating in several terror operations in the Kingdom. One of them stole his father’s identity card to help Al-Qaeda operatives, it was alleged.
The defendants were also charged with involvement in illegal arms trade, the charge sheet showed.