Four Iranians arrested in Albania: They Planed a Terrorist Attack

Shortly before the discovery, the Albanian government expelled the Iranian ambassador to Tirana, as involved in illegal activities.

Read below the complete statement:

A terrorist network, run by the Iranian regime, has been discovered in Albania. The aim of this network was to carry out attacks on Iranian opposition movement (MEK).

An active terrorist cell of the Iranian QUDS Foreign Operations Unit has recently been discovered by Albanian Security Institutions. The terrorist Celula is also responsible, among other things, for the March 2018 plan for carrying out a terrorist act during celebrations of the Nevruzi Festival, attended by high-level members of Iranian opposition organisation Mujahedeen el Khalq (MEK), a plan that was prevented by increased State Police measures, thanks to accurate information.

The terrorist cell is headed by the QUDS Forces operative, known as PEYMAN. PEYMAN is a permanent resident in Iran and manages a number of operatives in Albania and other countries in Central and Western Europe at a distance. Among other things, he initiated and implemented his last attempt to attack on March 2018. P EYMAN manages many operatives, some information collections and others to carry out terrorist attacks.

One of these operatives is Alireza NAGHASHZADEH, an Iranian who is himself a former MEK member and owns an Austrian passport. Nagashzadeh was sent by PEYMAN to collect information in Albania during several separate visits, as part of plans for an attack that was eventually banned.

Another operative, it's Abdolkhalegh MALEK ZADEH, an Iranian living in Turkey and leading the operational cell. MALEK ZADEH (also known by criminal ties with nickname “Ferhat”) has continued to work for the last two years with Abdulselam T U n RRU, a prominent figure of Turkish organised crime, to plan terrorist attacks by order of PEYMAN and QUDS forces. T URGUT, known as a Turkish mob boss and head of a powerful international drug trafficking network, has recently been imprisoned in Azerbaijan and Turkey on charges of drug trafficking. T URGUT also has old links to organised crime in Albania. T UGRUT was released from a prison in Turkey at the end of 2018. In 2011, T U n RRUT has also been imprisoned in Albania on charges concerning the alleged trafficking of about 1 tonnes of heroin, but escaped from the country using a false passport after the trial changed the security measure from “Arrest to prison” to “Your home arrest”.

Balkan-based criminal operatives, who are subordinates to TATGU or to a related Turkish drug dealer, by 2018, have been sent to Albania to advance the planning of attacks against him. MEK, as detected by MALIC ZADEH and the QUDS Forces. Albanian authorities have identified these individuals and information provided by informants from within criminal organisations has allowed Albanian authorities to prevent the March 2018 plan and eventual planning for attacks by organised crime figures targeted MEK on behalf of the Iranian regime.

QUDS forces are the operational wing of IRC (Islamist Revolutionary Guard Corps troops of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard) operating beyond Iran's borders. The QUDS forces are led by Qasssem SOLEIMAN, who is, among other things, responsible for Iran's activity in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The terrorist cell belonged, as mentioned, to the QUDS Foreign Operations Unit, an operational unit considered a cladestinian and secret, which is responsible for planning and implementing terrorist activity outside Iran. Within that unit, there is an entity that deals exclusively with organisations that oppose the regime. The entity's Modus Operandi includes remote management of the third forces (proxy), usually criminals and members of the mafia with different past, in order to cover Iran's involvement in terrorism. Using this Mous Operandi, MOIS (Minis try of Intelligence and Security) Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security has killed at least four opposition regimes in the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey and has organised unsuccessful attacks, such as the last remaining attempted attack against the MEK conference in Paris in June 2018.

Bringing attention to that since 2014, in co-ordination with the United Nations and the United States, Albania has hosted a number of MEK members, an organisation that views itself as the exiled opposition and as a practical alternative to the Iranian regime and therefore sees it as a serious threat to its survival. MEK is a key target for Iranian security forces, which try to attack members of the organisation wherever they can live and operate outside Iran.

Albanian security institutions are constantly working to stop these attempted attacks.

General: 1. PEYMAN no further information is provided. 2. Abdolkhalegh MALEK ZADEH, birthday of April 21, 1979. Known as “Ferhat” 3. Erwin ARAM of July 13, 1974. It's known as the “4. Abdulselam T U n RGUT, birthday 27 May 1967. / TCh/