Bahrain Arrests 2 Ex-Guantanamo Suspects

Bahraini authorities have arrested two Gulf citizens who were former Guantanamo detainees on suspicion of preparing a "terrorist act,” state media reported on Sunday.

A police chief, quoted by official news agency BNA, said the two suspects, whose names and nationalities were not disclosed, had entered Bahrain with fake passports from Saudi Arabia.

The two ex-detainees of the U.S. detention centre for terror suspects in Guantanamo were found in possession of a large amount of money after crossing from the King Fahd Bridge linking the two Gulf states, he said.

"They are suspected of wanting to carry out a terrorist act, posing a threat to the security of the kingdom of Bahrain," he said, adding the two would be referred to the courts.

BNA noted the arrests came days before a meeting in Manama of interior ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council which groups Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Security forces have been on alert in Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled kingdom destabilized since February 2011 by protests led by the country's Shiite majority to demand a constitutional monarchy.