Manama // Bahraini authorities yesterday accused opposition leaders based in London of masterminding and training the terrorist cell that had allegedly been planning to carry out bombings during the National Day celebrations here this month.
During a press conference in Manama, Bahrain's minister of interior, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, also said some of the 14 people arrested in the plot had received military training in Syria during July and August.
One of the suspects, who are all Bahrainis and believed to be Shiites, was turned over to the Bahraini government by Interpol from the UAE.
"They travelled under the mask of visiting religious sites in Syria where they were met by a Bahraini living in London, who arranged and carried out their intensive training programme on how to make bombs and explosives," Sheikh Rashid said. "The site of the training included others in masks undergoing training while the trainers were unmasked."
According to Sheikh Rashid, the masterminds behind the foiled plot are two Bahrainis living in London with one residing there under the umbrella of political asylum.
While he did not name the two ring leaders, sources said they are believed to be the leader of the Bahrain Freedom Movement in London and the former head of the Bahrain Martyrs and Victims of Torture Committee.
"The suspects confessed that their leadership came under the two Bahrainis who reside in Britain and that they were the ones who arranged for their recruitment and training," Sheikh Rashid said.
"They also revealed that the Bahraini leaders in Britain were planning to smuggle a large quantity of weapons to Bahrain for use in acts of violence, sabotage and terrorism to disrupt security and public order."
He said Bahrain had contacted the British and Syrian governments to ensure that their countries were not used as launching grounds for such terrorist groups.
"We informed the security services in Syria of our findings and asked them to send specialists so we could provide them with the available information and facts so they can take whatever action necessary to prevent the use of Syrian territory in the training of terrorist acts," he said.
"We also have alerted the British authorities to the seriousness of the activities by the two Bahraini suspects living in Britain, which threaten the security of Bahrain."
He called for stiffer punishments in terrorism cases and the toughening of current legislation to deter such groups and ensure security.
Hafed Ali, who is part of the defence team representing the 14 suspects, declined to comment about case.
He did, however, criticise the minister's call for tougher laws, pointing out that his clients were being charged under the recently adopted antiterror law, which has harsher punishments than the criminal code.
The announcement of the arrests in the case came just a few hours before arsonists set ablaze an electricity substation on the King Faisal motorway, one of the busiest streets in the capital and at a time when Shiite villages and capital suburbs were witnessing heavy clashes with police. No one has claimed responsibility for the power station arson and officials did not officially link it to the recently uncovered plot.
The clashes erupted after police cordoned-off a section of the city to prevent a march called for by the opposition on the day remembering alleged martyrs and victims of the unrest in the Gulf island during the early 1980s and mid 1990s.
Bahrain, a close US ally and home to its 5th Fleet Command, had also been struggling for the past few years with Sunni sympathisers who express support to the resistance groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Several cases have been brought forward against Bahraini Sunnis for alleged links to terrorist groups, all of which have been debunked by local courts. Two other Bahraini Sunnis are awaiting trial on charges of training with and trying to finance terrorist groups.
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England v New Zealand (Saturday, 12pm)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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Friday's schedule in Madrid
Men's quarter-finals
Novak Djokivic (1) v Marin Cilic (9) from 2pm UAE time
Roger Federer (4) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 7pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Alexander Zverev (3) from 9.30pm
Stan Wawrinka v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11.30pm
Women's semi-finals
Belinda Bencic v Simona Halep (3) from 4.30pm
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Test
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Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
