A recent media report which indicates that two of the 29 alleged terrorists arrested by Saudi law enforcement officers this week are Philippine nationals has sent OFWs into a state of shock across the Kingdom.
A local daily report released on Saturday confirmed that after detaining a Malaysian expatriate in Saudi Arabia on terrorism charges, Saudi security men arrested two Philippine passport holders in the Kingdom.
Commenting on this news, various OFWs community leaders expressed their state of shock over the disclosure.
“It’s quite alarming to note that the alleged involvement of those two Philippine passport holders who were on KSA’s terrorist list,” said Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) regional coordinator, John Monterona.
He said, “As far as we are concerned, Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia are law-abiding expatriates who are here to work and to support their loved ones in the Philippines.”
Monterona observed, “We would not hesitate to condemn those who are involved in terrorist acts here in KSA, in the Philippines or elsewhere.”
He called on the Philippine government, through its diplomatic post in Riyadh, to verify and confirm the identity of the two Philippine men, saying that, at this stage, it would be premature to conclude that they were indeed Filipinos.
“Our countrymen should be aware that we should stay away from deviant ideas and avoid all subversive activities. We should all work together with the authorities to maintain the peace and security in the Kingdom,” said another community leader, Deen Mohammad.
Sigrid Goldsmith asked the Saudi authorities to punish the guilty in accordance with the law once their involvement in this particular case has been confirmed.
The report said that Saudi authorities has recently conducted a week-long campaign that resulted in the capture of 29 new terror suspects, most of them Saudis. The anti-terrorism drive led to the capture of accused Filipino’s and a Saudi, Egyptian’s and one Indian on the first day,” while nine others (seven Saudis, one Syrian and a Lebanese national) were captured the next day.
On the third day, the authorities arrested another two Saudis, while the fourth day saw the capture of another Filipino among the five accused. On the fifth day, the security authorities arrested three Saudis.
