Tehran, July 12: A senior judicial official says efforts to track down Jundullah ringleader Abdulmalek Rigi are proceeding very well with the help of Interpol.
Ebrahim Hamidi, the head of the judiciary in the restive southeast province of Sistan-Baluchestan, said Sunday that Iranian security forces and Interpol– the world’s international police force– are working together to discover the whereabouts of Rigi.
According to Hamidi, the Tehran government has sought help from Interpol because the Jundullah terror group is operating from beyond the country’s borders.
He, however, acknowledged that rooting out terrorist groups that operate from the outside to destabilize the Iranian government “will take time”.
Hamidi said that the whereabouts of Rigi himself has remained a mystery since last March when he performed a string of deadly terrorist operations in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
Sometimes referred to Iran’s most wanted man, Rigi heads Jundullah, a Pakistan-based terror group that has staged a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in the country — one of which left at least 25 Iranians dead in early June.
Jundullah militants are said to be closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization.
The Asia Times reported in May that al-Qaeda militants have sought to establish an alliance with Jundullah to fulfill longstanding plans of creating a strategic corridor in the region to lay the foundation for joint regional operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
Hamidi said that it has been repeatedly confirmed that anti-government groups such as Jundullah are operating in Iran under the aegis of Western powers.
He was referring to a recent interview, in which Rigi’s brother, Abdulhamid, confirmed reports that Washington had helped the armed separatist ring carry out terror activities in Iran.
Abdulhamid told Press TV that his brother had held several “confidential” meeting with FBI and CIA agents in Karachi and Islamabad.
He added that during one of the meetings, two female US agents had offered weapons, safe bases in Afghanistan, and professional trainers, and had attempted to recruit volunteers.
Abdulhamid’s remarks comes two years after The Sunday Telegraph declared Jundullah to be a CIA brainchild designed to achieve the Bush-era goal of “regime change in Iran”.
—–Agencies