LYON, France – INTERPOL has issued a worldwide alert to its 184 member countries following confirmation of a prison break in Saudi Arabia by suspected Al Qaeda-linked terrorists.

The seven men, six Saudis and one Yemeni, escaped from the Malaz prison in Riyadh on 8 July.

INTERPOL’s Command and Co-ordination Centre in Lyon has issued Blue Notices for the fugitives which include their photographs and fingerprints and which request member countries to provide the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in Riyadh with any information concerning the location of the escapees.

'INTERPOL is the only organization capable of instantly alerting police around the world through its NCBs that escaped terrorists are on the loose, and is the only organization capable of instantly providing police worldwide with the photographs and fingerprints that will help them to identify and apprehend the escapees,' said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

The Command and Co-ordination Centre learned of the escape through routine open-source monitoring and immediately contacted NCB Riyadh to verify the escape and obtain the relevant information to alert other member countries.

Mr Noble praised the proactive work and quick response of the Command and Co-ordination Centre, which was created following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but he expressed concern about the apparently slow communication between prison and police authorities.

This is the second time in six months that INTERPOL has learned about the escape of charged or convicted terrorists through the media. The first escape occurred in February of this year, when 13 convicted Al Qaeda terrorists and 10 others broke out of a Yemeni prison, at which time Secretary General Noble ordered INTERPOL to issue a global alert to inform countries’ police services of the jail break, as it constituted a clear and present danger, not just to one country but to the world.

'Most people might only be concerned that there have been two prison escapes in two different countries by a large number of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. However, INTERPOL is also concerned that there apparently is no established protocol at the national level to alert the international police community that a prison break of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists has occurred,' Secretary General Noble said.

Mr Noble will propose to INTERPOL’s Executive Committee and General Assembly, which will meet in Rio de Janeiro later this year, to implement procedures which would ensure that information on escaped dangerous prisoners, and especially terrorists, is communicated immediately to INTERPOL.

'These two cases have exposed a serious weak link in the chain of global security and one which must be corrected immediately,' said Mr Noble.

INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 184 member countries, operating 24 hours a day in four official languages, Arabic, English, French and Spanish.