RIYADH - Saudi police on the porous southern border with Yemen have installed infrared cameras and barbed wire in areas of possible infiltration by terrorists, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The new measures, said the daily Al Watan, are intended to "stop terrorists and those on the wanted list published by the ministry of interior (December 6) from escaping to Yemen as well as curbing drug and weapons smuggling operations."
The head of the border police in Najran province, Abdullah Abu Nab, told the daily that authorities in Najran have completed the distribution of infrared cameras at the Khbash center that overlooks the Yemeni border, adding that the authorities were ready to counter any "unusual behavior."
Meanwhile the border police command has dispersed additional forces in the Jizan area, both on sea and land, supplying them with advanced equipment, the daily added.
The official told the paper the new procedures "have succeeded in curbing the number of infiltrators to Saudi Arabia and breaking up smuggling operations."
A security official meanwhile told the paper "the number of infiltrators has dwindled this year compared to past years in a big way."
The daily said the Jizan area has achieved "great success in stopping smuggling operations, the most significant of which was the capture of three thousand bullets recently ... as well as preventing one person from smuggling a quantity of bombs and ammunition and who was captured in the governate."
Saudi Arabia and Yemen have adopted a series of measures to tighten their border since sigining a June 2000 agreement that ended a decades-long territorial dispute.
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