Abdolmalek Rigi was nabbed on a flight from Dubai 24 hours after he was at a US militarily base in Afghanistan. "He was arrested on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan," Iranian Intelligence Minister, Heydar Moslehi said at a media conference reported by Iranian state media.
Moslehi, said the militant leader had been issued an Afghan passport by the "Americans," traveled to Europe, and met with a NATO military chief.
Rigi had been tracked by Iranian agents for five months before his arrest.
The capture was "a great defeat for the US and UK," the minister said. He accused the United States and Britain of involvement in "continuous plots" in the region.
"It is such a scandal for Dubai in this incident which shows that the Zionist regime (Israel), by using (the) US and Europe, is seeking to turn the region into a haven for terrorists. "This scandal cannot be covered up," said Moslehi, who held up pictures of Rigi he said were taken inside a US military base in Afghanistan by Iranian agents, and of his identity card. Moslehi said Rigi, believed to be in his 30s, was caught in an operation carried out entirely by Iranian agents. He confirmed that Rigi "was arrested without the slightest help of intelligence services of other countries, including those from the region."
Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Dehghan said Rigi's plane was ordered to land when it reached Persian Gulf waters, and then he was arrested after the plane was searched," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying without elaborating.
The intelligence ministry said in a Fars news agency report that he was arrested along with two members of his group.
State television aired footage of a handcuffed Rigi, dressed in a white shirt and khaki trousers, as masked agents led him out of an aircraft.
Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told reporters that Rigi was arrested outside the country as he was preparing for a new act of sabotage. The minister added that he was consequently transferred to Iran.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed the arrest, saying "this is another disgrace for countries who claim human rights," in reference to the United States and Britain.
In October 2009, Jundallah claimed it was behind a brutal suicide bombing in the provincial town of Pisheen that killed 42 people, including seven commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and several tribal leaders.
Rigi's Jundallah group also claimed a May 2009 bomb attack on the Amir al-Momenin mosque in Zahedan that killed more than 20 people and wounded 50. Soon after the Pisheen bombing, Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Guards demanded Pakistan hand over Rigi as Tehran had "proof" he was supported by Pakistan's intelligence agency.
Iran has also detained Rigi's brother Abdolhamid who said the Jundallah group received orders from the United States to carry out attacks inside Iran.
According to Iran's English speaking satellite channel Press TV, citing US and Pakistani intelligence sources, the news group of an American televison network, ABC, reported in 2007 that the terrorist group "has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials" to destabilize the government of Iran.
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed in another report in July 2008 that US Congressional leaders had secretly agreed to former President George W. Bush's USD 400 million funding request, which gave the US a free hand in arming and funding terrorist groups such as Jundallah militants, Press TV said.
The channel'sWebsite also said that the Pakistan-based terrorist organization denies having any link to Washington but Rigi's brother, arrested earlier and now in Iran's custody, confirmed in an interview with Press TV that the Jundallah leader had, in fact, established links with the US administration.
Abdolhamid revealed that a go-between, named Amanollh-Khan Rigi, put the terrorist group in connect with the US administration, which had promised the anti-Iran terrorist group a safe haven in Pakistan.
"His name is Amanollah-Khan Rigi. He is my father's cousin. He was a royalist during the Shah's regime," Abdulhamid told Press TV.
"After the [1979] Revolution in Iran, he left the country via Pakistan and sought asylum in the United States."
Abdulhamid said the Americans had asked Amanollah-Khan to forge a link between the US and Jundallah. "The Americans asked him [Amanollah-Khan] to introduce them to [Abdolmalek] Rigi in Pakistan and that's how link was established."
He also claimed to have visited the US Embassy in Pakistan to seek more US cooperation with the terrorist group.
"The most important issue that I raised was Jundallah's security in Pakistan," he said.
"I told the Americans that we needed support from the media, newspapers, radios and satellite channels to get our message across to the Baluch around the world," he said.
According to Abdolhamid, the Pakistani government was well aware of the whereabouts of the Jundallah terror group.
"It is impossible to believe that Pakistan is unaware of Jundallah's presence on its soil," he said. "Pakistan is a perfect haven for Jundallah."
Source: AFP - Press TV
Iran arrests Jundallah's Abdolmalek Rigi ... on a flight from Dubai...
Iran arrested the leader of Sunni Muslim rebel group Jundollah, Abdolmalek Rigi, on Tuesday, Iranian media reported.
Iran has linked Jundollah (God's soldiers) to the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda network and accuses Pakistan, Britain and the United States of backing the group to destabilize the country...... Iran's interior minister said Rigi was arrested outside Iran..... on board a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.
"Rigi was arrested outside Iran and transferred over to Iran," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar as saying......The group said it was behind an October 18 attack, the deadliest in Iran since the 1980s, that killed more than 40 Iranians, including 15 from the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Iran says Jundollah has bases in Pakistan, suggesting it has links with Pakistani intelligence.
Iranian officials said Rigi was briefly detained on September 26 in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, but said Pakistan released him before the October attack and demanded Islamabad hand him over.
"Rigi has been under our intelligence agents' surveillance for a while ... He and the group with him were arrested at an opportune time," Najjar said, adding that more details about Rigi's arrest would be disclosed soon..."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 10:18 AM
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