The recent announcement made by the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia that it had arrested three Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorist cells made up of 113 individuals including a significant number of foreign nationals reinforces the fact that Oil and Gas infrastructure remains an important strategic target. The two smaller of the three cells, made up a total of twelve suicide bombers who were specifically tasked with attacking oil and gas facilities in the Eastern Province.
Additionally in mid March Yemen security forces were placed on high alert following the receipt of intelligence indicating that an attack on oil and gas infrastructure was likely following strikes by Yemen Air force against al Qaeda camps.
The last significant attempt by Al Qaeda to attack oil infrastructure occurred at the Abqaiq oil facility, Saudi Arabia on Friday 24th February 2006 at 15:10hrs. Two cars driven by terrorists and loaded with explosives penetrated the first of three layers of security. The first car detonated at the first check point neutralizing the guards and allowing the following vehicle to reach the second checkpoint where it was engaged with machine gun fire and detonated causing minor infrastructure damage. Significantly the terrorists were wearing Saudi Aramco uniforms and were driving cars painted with Saudi Aramco colours.
It is almost certain that the terrorist cell responsible for the Abqaiq attack carried out in depth surveillance of their target for a period of time, possibly months, prior to launching their attack.
Captured Al Qaeda documents indicate the high level of importance placed on reconnaissance and surveillance prior to attack. The documents detail the importance of building construction, the position of surveillance cameras, the importance of public events scheduled near target buildings or facilities, the number of cars and pedestrians passing per minute, a description of security guards, their routine, uniform and weapons and the importance of identifying undercover counter-surveillance personnel.
Al Qaeda is known to have taken video film of the physical barriers and behaviour of security guards at a compound used by a Western Oil Company at Jubail, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. This video was subsequently posted on a Jihadist website.
The importance of detecting pre-attack surveillance cannot be underestimated and hostile surveillance detection should be part of every security guard’s training. All employees both National and Expatriate should also be made aware of what to look for in order to detect surveillance.
A US based technology company has recently been developed and released on the market a long range counter surveillance camera that has the capability to detect when cameras, binoculars, telescopic sights are deployed against an installation. This device represents a dramatic advance in pro-active security and should be subject to operational evaluation by organizations working in potentially hostile environments.
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