Al Fayfi was repatriated to Saudi custody in December 2006, and completed a rehabilitation program.[4] He then however joined al-Qaeda in Yemen and was in Yemen for two years, where he rose to become one of the top dozen leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In September 2010, he surrendered to Saudi Arabia, and on November 1, 2010, he was reported to have provided information that helped thwart the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.