AL-QAEDA WEAPONS CACHE UNEARTHED

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 001457 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019 TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV SA SUBJECT: AL-QAEDA WEAPONS CACHE UNEARTHED Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (U) MOI spokesman Major General Mansour Al-Turki announced on Nov. 1 the discovery of a large quantity of weapons and ammunition hidden in a rest house in the village of Al-Safarat, 120 km outside of Riyadh. According to the Saudi Press Agency, security officers found 281 machine guns and tens of thousands of rounds of bullets all hidden under reinforced concrete. ¶2. (U) The discovery was based on information obtained from interrogations of 44 Al-Qaeda linked militants, whose arrests were announced in August. "Interrogations led us to the hideaway," Al-Turki told Arab News. He added that the investigation is still ongoing. COMMENT: ¶3. (C) The MOI continues to show that it has both the capability and intent to stop terror attacks within the KSA. The very public announcement of this find demonstrates that the media campaign against Al-Qaeda continues to be equally important to the SAG. SMITH