Citing a source from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Benjie L. Vergara of The Manila Times reported that “early this month, Saudi Arabian Embassy officials were said to have made an extremely urgent request to MIAA officials and the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) to allow them to put up their own X-ray machines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).”
The request is being reviewed by the MIAA.
The airport source explained that there was “an alleged terrorist plot to hijack or bomb a passenger plane from the Saudi Arabian air fleet that had reached an ‘advanced stage’ of implementation.”
The source pointed out that “the threat of terrorist attack would be carried out somewhere in Southeast Asia after Iran warned of ‘divine revenge’ against Saudi Arabia over Riyadh’s recent execution of a religious leader, a prominent cleric named Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.”
The report noted that in light of this development, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Philippines informed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) last month that its government intelligence had received information that “Iranian Revolutionary Guards” were allegedly preparing to mount the attack.
The Manila Times managed to get a copy of that confidential communication which revealed that the attack was going to be done by 10 people — six of them Yemeni nationals. The names of six suspects were said to have been forwarded to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
On Wed, Feb 24, Emirates 24/7 reported that “the Philippines foiled an Iranian plot aimed at hijacking or blowing up a Saudi aircraft.”
The report then went on to quote spokesman for Saudi Arabian Airlines Abdulrahman Al Fahad, who disclosed, “The alerts and exchange of security information by all the competent authorities in all countries, with extra security precautions, ensured security of the aircraft.”
Fahad added, “Security departments at Saudi Arabian Airlines is working with other agencies, who we are in constant contact with throughout the year, to ensure safe operations of the aircraft and its passengers, as is the case with all international airlines.”
