MANAMA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's security authorities arrested a total of 357 people last year in 105 counterterrorism operations, the interior minister said on Sunday.
Large quantities of weapons, explosives and equipment were also retrieved, Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa added.
He said so during an open meeting with the community he chaired, adding that law enforcement agencies searched 42 sites and warehouses across the country as part of the operations.
The terrorist crimes included attempts to assassinate officials and public figures, attack policemen and vandalism targeting oil establishments, Al Khalifa said.
He noted that a security plan was put in place to target the sources of risks and threats to the homeland security.
"It was the most important preventive security operation and essentially achieved the arrest of 47 major terrorists," he said, adding that the majority of those arrested are members of three terrorist groups.
"The cells are run by individuals in Iran who coordinate with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Popular Crowd Forces in Iraq (Al-Hashd al-Shaabi) and the Hezbollah of Lebanon to train terrorists," he said.
During the meeting, the minister also showed confiscated envelopes that contained 50 Bahraini dinars (133 U.S. dollars) each as a reward for committing acts of terror and vandalism.
He said those arrested were referred to public prosecution and more details will be released later.
