RIYADH, Feb 3: Saudi security agencies have arrested 10 people accused of collecting donations and luring militants to troubled spots, the Saudi interior ministry spokesman announced here on Saturday.

The Saudi Press Agency quoting an interior ministry spokesman said the suspects used the funds to lure citizens, to troubled, unstable spots, apparently referring to Iraq.

The detainees are suspected of “carrying out banned activities, including collecting donations in an illegal way and smuggling the funds to suspicious sides that use them to lure (Saudis) to trouble spots,” the spokesman said.

“Security special forces, as part of their efforts in fighting terrorism and its funding, managed to arrest a group of people carrying out illegal activities including collecting donations illegally ... and sending them to suspected parties,” Mansour al-Turki, interior ministry spokesman said in the statement.

Seven of those arrested Saudi citizens were nabbed on Friday night while meeting at a rest house in Jeddah. Two other Saudis were detained in separate raids in Jeddah and Madinah. The spokesman did not give the nationality of the non-Saudi suspect.