Saudi Arabia arrested 18 people accused of being involved in espionage activity.
An interior ministry spokesperson said that 16 of those arrested were Saudi, one Lebanese and one Iranian, adding they were captured in four different areas of the kingdom.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the suspects were found in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Eastern Province – where the country’s Shia minority is concentrated.
The General Intelligence Presidency and the Saudi interior ministry caught the men in a joint operation, said the report, adding the ministry “received information on Saudis and expats spying for another country.”
However, the report did not disclose the name of the country the suspects were allegedly working for.
The men were collecting data on “vital installation,” said the state news agency.
In an interview with Al Arabiya, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said most of those arrested were from one sect, adding that they were spying for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Among those involved is a doctor and another is a Shia cleric,” he said. “Others were working for [the Saudi oil company] Aramco.”
There are an estimated two million Shias in the Sunni-dominated kingdom of about 27.5 million people.
