Arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi

The arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi took place in 2010 in an extraordinary international operation by Iranian security forces, under unclear circumstances, as Rigi was extracted from a passenger jet on his way from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. Iranian Ministry of Intelligence had tracked Abdolmalek Rigi's, leader of Jundallah militant group, movements for five months and then arrested him on 23 February 2010.

Abdolmalek Rigi (Persian: عبدالمالک ریگی‎‎) was the leader of Jundallah, an militant group based in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran.

There are two conflicting versions of Rigi's arrest. According to the Iranian government, after visiting United States military base in Afghanistan on 23 February 2010, Rigi with forged Afghan passport, was passenger of the flight which traveled from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. When the plane arrived to Persian Gulf, Iranian fighter jets interrupted its way that confirmed by Bishkek airport. The Iranian jets told to land in Iranian territory and added that "a number of foreign passengers were forcibly removed." Therefore, the plane landed in the Bandar Abbas International Airport and all passengers took down. After that Iranian forces identified Rigi and arrested him. Other people got on the plane and Iran government gave a gift to the passengers for apologizing the delay. After arresting, Iranian TV showed Rigi with hands tied being escorted by four masked Iranian commandos. Also, Fars News Agency broadcast video of Rigi's arrest.

According to a former U.S. intelligence officer, on the other hand, Rigi was captured by Pakistani officials and delivered to Iran with U.S. support: "It doesn't matter what they say. They know the truth."

Jazeera Satellite Channel announced Rigi was arrested in Pakistan while Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, interior minister, said: "Abdolmalek Rigi was arrested outside Iran while he was traveling somewhere and was transferred to Iran." He said to Press TV that Rigi was arrested Tuesday on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. Also, Najjar mentioned this capture show intelligence supremacy of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.

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Wikipedia