PLO officials issued statements today backtracking on their having announced the arrest of two Arabs involved in the smuggling of weapons on board the Karin-A freighter. Last week, the PLO said that Adael Mugrabi and Fuad Shubaki were both sitting in PLO jails for their involvement in the smuggling attempt. After Israel proved that Mugrabi is not in custody, but rather outside of Israel, they modified their claim by saying that he was not arrested, and only Shubaki was incarcerated. Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem claimed that even Shubaki is not in jail, but rather, \"a guest in Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters.\" According to the source, the original PLO announcement was made to placate US President Bush and Secretary of State Powell who demanded the arrest of those involved in smuggling the 50 tons of weapons.