The UAE State Security Department on Monday said it had dismantled a terrorist organisation operating inside the Emirates.
The department sanctioned the arrests of the group's members over suspected involvement in activities aimed at undermining national unity and carrying out planned sabotage operations inside the country.
It said investigations indicated the group was preparing systematic terrorist and sabotage activities within UAE territory, state news agency Wam reported.
The organisation was discovered to be holding secret meetings inside and outside of the UAE, surveillance reports said. The group was also found to be trying to recruit young Emiratis by spreading "misleading ideas" in the hope of gaining their support for "foreign allegiances".
They were also accused of incitement against the UAE's foreign policy and internal measures by portraying the country in a negative light. The organisation is also said to have collected funds through unofficial means before transferring them to suspicious external entities.
They are charged with establishing a secret organisation and managing its activities within the Emirates, as well as pledging allegiance and loyalty to external parties and undermining national unity and social peace. They also carried out recruitment operations through secret meetings, according to a plan co-ordinated with external parties to reach sensitive locations.
The department added that the organisation had links to Iran’s system of Wilayat Al Faqih, a governing religious-political doctrine, which advocates that clergy should have authority over the state.
The system has been operating in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is enshrined in the country's constitution.
The UAE air defences intercepted 537 ballistic missiles, 26 cruise missiles and 2,256 drones after Iran began its attacks on February 28. A two-week conditional ceasefire was agreed to between Iran and the US on April 8.
Last month, the UAE also announced the dismantling of a “terrorist network” funded and operated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran, and the arrest of its members. The network was said to have been operating in the UAE using a fake commercial cover and had tried to infiltrate the national economy and conduct “external schemes” against the country’s financial stability.
The network operated according to a “pre-established strategic plan in co-ordination with external parties linked to Hezbollah and Iran, in violation of economic and legal regulations, to launder money, finance terrorism and threaten national security", Wam reported at the time.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemned last month's “terrorist plot” against the UAE involving Hezbollah.
