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Three U.S. Nationals Arrested In Saudi For Alcohol Trafficking
RIYADH, Feb 14 (AFP) - Three U.S. nationals accused of alcohol smuggling have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is strictly banned under Islamic laws, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Diplomatic sources told the London-based Saudi paper that the arrests of the three men were carried out in the east of the conservative Muslim kingdom.
The authorities have accused the suspects of trafficking and distributing alcohol while also investigating a possible link to a car bombing on December 15th in the eastern city of Khobar that seriously wounded a Scottish man.
The U.S. embassy in Riyadh declined to comment on the report, which gave no date for the arrests.
A fourth American, Michael Sedlak, has been detained since December on suspicion of involvement in two other anti-British car bombings that were carried out in Riyadh.
"He has not been charged yet, and the investigation continues," said a U.S. embassy official, adding that a consul had last called on Sedlak on January 27th.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said Tuesday that a Briton suspected of involvement in the Riyadh attacks has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and would soon be handed over to Saudi authorities.
The Briton, named in Emirati newspapers as Gary O'Nions, was arrested in the Emirates following an investigation into the bomb attacks in which one person was killed and four others wounded.
O'Nions allegedly ran an illicit drinking den, the Empire Club, popular with western expatriates in Riyadh, according to the Dubai newspaper Gulf News. He was arrested at Dubai airport last June after having fled across the desert to the UAE.
"I fear that rather than alcohol-related charges, I will be questioned regarding the bombings and I wish to state for the record that I am not involved in any way whatsoever ... with these bombings," O'Nions told the London Times last week.
Nayef already announced in early February the arrests of three Westerners in connection with the blasts.
Alexander Mitchell of Britain, William Sampson of Canada and Raf Skivens of Belgium later appeared on Saudi TV confessing their involvement, which could lead to their beheading if found guilty of murder.
Nayef has said that nine other foreigners under arrest, mostly Britons but including a Lebanese, were involved in "prohibited affairs," an insider's code for alcohol charges in Saudi Arabia.
Christopher Rodway was killed and his wife injured when their car blew up in central Riyadh on November 17th. Less than a week later, two Britons and an Irish woman were injured in another Riyadh blast.
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