Oct 14 2021

Turkish security forces have arrested a network of eight people, including two alleged Iranian agents, in Van province for trying to abduct a former soldier, reported Turkey’s state media on Wednesday

Anadolu Agency reported that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and police conducted an operation on September 24 to chase a group of eight people who they believed were attempting to abduct a former Iranian soldier. The group consisted of six Turkish nationals and two Iranian agents.

The news agency said the network had been provided with a budget of $30,000 – one third of which was supposedly for enticing the wife of the target to help them. She was reportedly threatened by authorities in Tehran, which said her family in Iran would be harmed if she refused to cooperate.

They were caught in Van, which borders Iran, on the first day of the operation after they were allegedly sent to bring the man back to Iran in a car.

Tehran has not commented on the operation.

This is not the first time that Iran is accused of kidnapping dissidents in other countries.

Four Iranian nationals were indicted by the US in mid-July for conspiracy to kidnap an exiled Iranian journalist, Masih Alinejad, based in Brooklyn.

Habib Chaab, a leader of an Iranian opposition group, was abducted in Turkey and handed over to Iran’s government late October 2020. He was the vice president of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz. The armed opposition group movement is based in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz.

Iran also executed Ruhollah Zam two years ago after allegedly kidnapping him from Iraq. He was convicted of encouraging an anti-government uprising in 2017 through a Telegram channel while he was in France.

Source » rudaw