London,Riyadh- Saudi Arabia took regulatory measures against 171 internal and external bank accounts, as part of its ongoing campaign to combat terrorist financing.

Security Spokesperson at the Saudi Interior Ministry General Mansour al-Turki revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Saudi Arabia placed 117 bank accounts under precautionary custody and had frozen the transfer of money to 54 bank accounts outside the Kingdom.

General Turki said that during 2014, the Saudi Judiciary had opened 975 cases related to crimes of terrorist financing.

Meanwhile, Riyadh warned yesterday any person or entity (institutions and companies) of raising funds without obtaining an official permit from accredited authorities.

“Any person who does not abide by the regulations of fundraising will be subject to regulatory interrogations,” the Saudi Interior Ministry tweeted.

The ministry also said it would punish those who would violate the Kingdom’s regulations through precautionary custody of their public bank accounts and the removal of accounts for non-Saudis.

General al-Turki said that authorities are monitoring people and entities including institutions and companies that are not allowed to raise funds. He said: “Those are taking advantage of nationals and residents in Saudi Arabia who wish to raise funds for charities during the month of Ramadan by asking them to donate money through texts using the suffering of the Syrians and the ongoing wars in the region.”

Turki added that those people and entities also post their phone numbers not to drive suspicion and write their bank accounts number, which violates regulations taken by the Kingdom to fight terrorism.