Iran’s long arm sought to kill dissidents in Albania
In addition, police director Ardi Veliu explained that the terrorist cell was being lead by the Iranian regime in Albania which is aimed at demoralizing the Iranian Opposition Movement.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANPolice stand guard during an anti-government protest in front of the Parliament in Tirana, Albania May 25, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS/FLORION GOGA)
Albania stopped an Iranian plot against an opposition group, Albanian police said on Wednesday. It was one of several that were plotted last year. According to General Police Director Ardi Veliu, an “active cell” of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force had been tracked in the normally quiet Balkan nation.Iran has been increasing its activities against dissidents in Europe in recent years. Denmark launched a massive operation in 2018 to stop Iran from killing a dissident. Finn Borch Andersen, head of Denmark’s intelligence service, said his agency had stopped an attack targeting three people. Sweden was also involved and the operation to stop the plot caused travel chaos as bridges were closed.Iran was also involved in another plot in France in October 2018 and an Iranian diplomat based in Austria was detained in Germany. Another alleged plot managed from Tehran included the murder of a man in Amsterdam in 2015. Now Iran has sought to target Albania, using Europe’s soft underbelly to exploit what Tehran may think are more porous borders and less sophisticated intelligence agencies.But Albania says that it identified three people using informants inside criminal organizations to prevent a March 2018 attack. Iran, oddly, had tried to use organized crime members to carry out its dirty work. It turns out that thousands of members of the People’s Mujahideen Organizations of Iran, also called MEK, have moved to Albania after being forced to flee Iraq. This group is one of the main dissident groups that opposes Iran’s regime. The Iranian suspects are thought to be in Austria and Turkey. Austria is where one of Iran’s detained diplomats was also based and accused in another, related, plot.An assessment published by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center in February said the Albanian plot was known because Albania had already expelled Iran’s ambassador in December 2018 for damaging national security. It is not clear from recent reports what is new in Iran’s plotting sing last year.Reuters contributed to this report.
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