Bahraini security forces arrest 2 fugitives

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said Wednesday that an arrest was carried out of two fugitives who escaped prison last Monday and were found carrying weapons. "Redha Abdullah Al-Ghasra and Hussain Al-Banna, who escaped the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre on April 21, were arrested in Saar city early this morning as a result of an intensified manhunt," the ministry said in a statement. Seven other people, who were unnamed, were also arrested, according to the ministry. "Police also confiscated weapons, bullets, explosives and remote detonators from the location (of the fugitives)," the statement added. Some of those arrested told investigators that they had used "matams", or religious cemeteries, in different villages to store home-made weapons and bomb-making materials. The mattams in question were then searched by the police in the presence of officials, representatives of the Jaafari (Shiite) Endowments and Shiite clergy tasked with caretaking duties for these religious shrines, where bomb-making material and ready-to-use launchers were found and confiscated. Legal procedures are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecution.