2 Saudi women arrested ‘on way to join Al-Qaeda’

Jazan police arrested two Saudi women from Qassim and three Yemenis for allegedly trying to cross the border into Yemen to join Al-Qaeda last Thursday.
The women, Mai Al-Talq and Aminah Al-Rashid, were traveling with their four children and two other boys they had allegedly duped into going along with them. One of the boys, aged 12, is Al-Talq’s brother, while the other youngster, aged 14, is the son of Al-Rashid’s half-sister.
The three Yemenis were allegedly tasked with smuggling the women and children into Yemen.
Al-Talq and Al-Rashid had allegedly planned their trip to Yemen over the past few weeks and had collected money and gold jewelry to pay for the journey.
The women had apparently convinced their relatives last Wednesday that they were going to hire a chalet in Buraidah for the weekend. Al-Talq had allegedly convinced her brother to accompany her by saying they were going for a picnic.
It is claimed that Al-Rashid called her former husband to get his permission to take her son with her, and promised she would return him in time for school on Saturday.
After collecting the two boys from their schools, the women allegedly traveled to a location near Sabya in Jazan, not far from the southern border on Thursday. It is here that they met up with the three Yemenis from the Houthi tribe, it is alleged.
They continued their journey on foot in the dark across rough terrain but Border Guard officers spotted them before they reached the crossing point, it is claimed.
The children were apparently terrified, and had found it difficult traveling on foot. The women and children were given first aid and food after their arrest, and their relatives in Qassim informed of their whereabouts.