David Capitanchik: Saudi intelligence proves its worth in pin-point detail and accuracy

Published on Sunday 31 October 2010 15:37

The discovery of the plot to send two explosive-laden packages by cargo and passenger plane from Yemen to the United States via some Gulf states and the UK has provided a dramatic example of the importance of the exchange of intelligence within the international community. This particular event illustrates the pivotal role of Saudi Arabia in the fight against al-Qaeda.

A new network formed by the merger of offshoots of the international Islamist groups in Yemen and Saudi Arabia has been described by the US counter-terrorism expert John Brennan as "the most active operational franchise" of al-Qaeda beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Between May 2003 and early 2006, Saudi Arabia suffered considerably from al-Qaeda attacks. Many spectacular attacks were carried out in Saudi Arabia, killing foreign and Saudi nationals. In December 2004, for example, at least nine people were killed in a raid on the US consulate in Jeddah.

Subsequently, however, the Saudi security services gained the upper hand and, although large numbers of Saudis attended militant training camps and gained experience fighting in such places as Iraq, it became increasingly difficult for them to organise operational cells in the kingdom and the last significant attack was at the Abqaiq oil facility in early 2006.

Yemen, a poor Arab nation, has become a major operating base for al-Qaeda and has been the source of the explosive packages found hidden on passenger planes in Dubai and on a cargo plane in England.

However, US officials were provided with tracking numbers of the two packages enabling them to be quickly found in the UK and Dubai. These tracking numbers were provided by the Saudi authorities. The package found in East Midlands Airport contained a printer toner cartridge, which had white powder as well as wires and a circuit board on it.

The Saudis warned the UK authorities that there were explosives inside the cartridge, but the British, using dogs as well as humans, could not detect the material. Having been asked by the British to verify their intelligence, they were told to inspect the cartridge again and that was when the explosive material was discovered.

Along with the Americans, the British authorities were clear that the source of the proposed attack on the aircraft carrying the explosives to reach the United States was Yemen, but the governments of both countries were most grateful to the Saudi regime for the necessary intelligence.

It is a good example of the anti-al-Qaeda intelligence relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US and many European countries, especially the UK.

• David Capitanchik is an international terrorism expert and honorary professor at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.