Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that it had detained 39 people on charges of carrying out ‘acts of sabotage’. Two days earlier, seven media employees were detained on suspicion of ‘promoting Iran’s policy’ in Azerbaijan.
1. Matlab Bagirov
Owner of:
1. InterAz
“InterAz” TV channel was founded in 2002 and was registered in 2007 at the Inter-Regional Inspectorate of the Russian Federal Tax Service.
The founder of the channel, which was previously headquartered in Moscow, was the well-known journalist Saleh Khudiyev.
In 2016, the TV channel was bought by Matlab Bagirova, known as “Haji Matlab”, who received religious education in Qom, Iran and Syria.
Currently, the head office of the channel has been moved to Turkey and broadcasting is organized via the “Turksat” satellite.
Statements of Iranian officials and information serving the interests of this country are abundant on the TV channel.
In the past, Haji Taleh Baghirzade, Haji Zulfugar Mikayilzade, who are currently in prison for the “Nardaran incidents”, and other religious people known for their closeness to Iran, were widely advertised on the TV channel.
The owner of the channel, Matlab Bagirov, is originally from Jalilabad region.
It is reported that he even has business facilities in Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan.
2. SalamNews
-“SalamNews” Information Agency started its activity on March 1, 2010.
The founder of the Information Agency is the owner of “InterAz” TV, Haji Matlab Bagirov.
The Agency’s Baku office is located at the same address as the Baku representative office of “InterAz” TV, in Yasamal district.
Although a Farsi version of “SalamNews” IA was prepared in 2017, this project was later postponed for unknown reasons.
Currently, the site operates in Azerbaijani and Russian languages.
“SalamNews” IA carried out extensive pro-Iranian religious propaganda in the previous period, but now it broadcasts various statements of Iranian officials and religious people, and provides religious education materials.
Matlab Bagirov, the owner of InterAz and SalamNews, was among those detained during the operation. Both outlets were known to publish pro-Islam and pro-Iranian content.
Bagirov, also known as Haji Matlab, is originally from the Jalilabad region in southeastern Azerbaijan, and bought InterAz in 2016. He is believed to have received a religious education in Iran and Syria.
As for the websites “İnteraz” and “Salamnews.org,” they were originally registered in Russia.
In 2016, these resources were bought by Matlab Bagirov, who had previously received religious education in Iran and Syria. In Baku, their offices are in the same building in the Yasamal district.
TV programmes of these resources are broadcast via the Turkish satellite “Türksat”. Religious propagandists and supporters of the Iranian regime are frequent guests on the programmes.
In 2017, “Salamnews” announced the launch of a Persian-language version of the news, but this never happened. -02В-
(Source: turan.az)
2. Zahir Asgerov
According to the statement made by the Azerbaijan State Security Service, it was determined that Zahir Asgerov, who served as a ship captain in the Caspian Sea Oil Fleet, cooperated with the Iranian intelligence in exchange for financial gain when he received religious education in the Iranian city of Qom.
It was determined that Asgerov went to Iran by phone or personally and gave the information he collected about foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan, the place and time of the military exercises in the Caspian, and the cargoes carried to the oil platforms, to the Iranian intelligence .
It was determined that Asgerov went to Iran by phone or personally and gave the information he collected about foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan, the place and time of the military exercises in the Caspian, and the cargoes carried to the oil platforms, to the Iranian intelligence .
3. Elnur Resulov
Elnur Resulov, on the other hand, cooperated with the Iranian intelligence in exchange for money in Iran, where he went for treatment in 2018, and in the next period, together with his relative Arif Resulov, the places where the oil and natural gas line passed, the unmanned aerial vehicles kept at the airports, the tanks and various military It was determined that the locations of the vehicles, the vehicles exhibited at TEKNOFEST in Baku, military and strategic areas, air defense and radar systems were taken and transferred to the Iranian intelligence.
4. Bahtiyar Agazade
It was determined that Bahtiyar Agazade also cooperated with the Iranian intelligence while he was studying religious education in Iran, and in the next period, he transferred the information he collected about the political and social processes in Azerbaijan, the location, type and command level of the military units to the Iranian intelligence in return for money.
5. Mirhafiz Ceferzade
It has been determined that Mirhafiz Ceferzade has also transferred the locations of the military units to Orhan Mammadov, who has an arrest warrant for collaborating with Iranian intelligence and is hiding in Iran, over the internet.
(Source: turkiyenews)
6. Rasulov Arif Amrah oglu (Relative of Rasulov Elnur Akif oglu)
According to the information, the Iranian special services have also paid to recruit Rasulov Elnur Akif oglu, who also later involved his relative Rasulov Arif Amrah oglu who cooperate with him in secret to obtain photos and videos of the areas along the routes of oil and gas pipelines in the capital Baku, the storage locations of the drones, tanks, and other armored equipment of the Azerbaijani army and State Border Service, the equipment displayed at the “Teknofest” Aviation, Space and Technology festival in Baku, as well as other strategic and military objects, anti-aircraft missile complexes, radar-monitoring devices. The spies reportedly used WhatsApp to communicate with their curators.
7. Jafarzadeh Mirhafiz Mirisag oglu
8. Orkhan Mammadov Kemran oglu
It was also determined that Azerbaijani citizen Jafarzadeh Mirhafiz Mirisag oglu had fulfilled the tasks assigned by Orkhan Mammadov Kemran oglu, who has been put on the international wanted list and is currently hiding in Iran, for specifying the location of military objects and sending the collected data to the latter through messaging application Telegram.
All of the suspects have been charged with criminal responsibility and arrested under Article 274 (treason) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
The exposed spy network is not the first development to create tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan.
Earlier on November 1, the State Security Service exposed a clandestine group of Azerbaijani citizens that were illegally involved in military exercises outside the country under direct financing and guidance by the Iranian special services. Nineteen citizens of Azerbaijan were detained and brought to justice for attending military exercises, smuggling banned radical extremist ideology books and video materials, and disseminating them within the borders of Azerbaijan. Four more people, who fled Azerbaijan and are currently hiding in Iran, were established as the leaders of the illegal group.
Furthermore, recently, the Iranian hacker group “Black Rewards” has revealed documents related to the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization of Iran, including papers of bank payments to the accounts of Tehran’s agents in Azerbaijan.
According to the leaked documents, in January and March 2022, payments worth €47,158 and €75,000 were made to bank accounts in Baku and €15,083 and €30,000 to those in Nakhchivan. In April 2022, €40,000 more were transferred to a bank account in Baku. All transfers have been reportedly made from the National Bank of Iran.