TUNIS - Tunisian justice ministry has prepared 18 legal cases against former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said Wednesday.

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The charges include "conspiring against the security of the state", "voluntary manslaughter" and "drug trafficking", Chebbi said in an interview aired on Tunisian television Wednesday evening.

The Tunisian authorities have set up a legal case to enable the extradition of the former president, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, he said, adding that Interpol is hunting down the other members of his family.

More than 300 property certificates belonging to the Ben Ali and his family were seized and transferred to the state, the minister said.

On Tuesday, the head of an investigation committee said the former president had issued orders to bomb the town of Kasserine in central Tunisian, to quell the violent protests that flared up in the town.

Ben Ali left the country on January 14 amid protests. Many members of his family and inner circle were questioned and some of them face trial on charges of corruption and embezzlement.