A Police Commander: Over Three Thousand Iranians Are Imprisoned in Other Countries

The head of Interpol for Iran's Law Enforcement Force stated that, according to statistics provided by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, there are currently 3,135 Iranians detained in various countries. In a press conference on Wednesday, March 4, Masoud Rezvani added, "In 2014, we had 147 detainees, of which 73 were related to drug offenses, 30 to identity documents, and 13 to theft." Rezvani noted that most of these individuals are detained in Turkmenistan, Turkey, Armenia, and the UAE. He also mentioned the presence of two Iranians on the missing Malaysian airplane, stating, "The two Iranian nationals entered the plane with stolen passports; we have reports that individuals travel using passports from other countries and fall victim to human trafficking networks." Regarding the repatriation of some suspects residing abroad to Iran, he announced, "Five individuals who were wanted have been extradited; one person who committed a 12 billion Toman fraud from a private company was returned from the UAE, along with a 200 million Toman fraudster from Armenia and a murder suspect from Afghanistan." Another part of Rezvani's remarks focused on the arrest of a member of the Jaish al-Adl group. He discussed Abdolsttar Rigi, who is reportedly recently arrested in Pakistan, saying, "We have pursued this individual since 2009; Abdolsttar Rigi is, as we know, the cousin of Abdolmalek Rigi, and based on the documents we provided to Interpol, a Red Notice has been issued for him, and extradition documents have been issued for Pakistan." While Rezvani referred to the arrested individual as "Abdolsttar Rigi," Reuters had previously reported him as "Salam Rigi." Furthermore, contrary to Rezvani's claim that the arrested individual is Abdolmalek Rigi's cousin, the state news agency IRNA referred to him as the brother of the former leader of the Jundallah group. Abdolmalek Rigi, the former leader of Jundallah, was arrested by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence in 2010 and was executed in 2010 for charges of corruption and waging war against God. Regarding the extradition of Abdolsttar Rigi to Iran, the Iranian Minister of Interior stated on Wednesday that "necessary consultations with the Pakistani Foreign Ministry have been made, but no progress has been made regarding Rigi's transfer to Iran." According to IRNA, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli responded to a question about whether Pakistan agreed to hand over Abdolsttar Rigi to Iran, saying, "We have also requested our Foreign Ministry to follow up on the extradition of Rigi to the country." Rigi was arrested on Saturday while on a bus in border areas of Iran by "Southwest Pakistani authorities." Southwest Pakistan is a Baloch region that borders Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province. Part of the press conference was dedicated to the topic of bringing back Mahmoudreza Khavari, the former CEO of Bank Melli, to Iran. Masoud Rezvani stated, "The Canadian police have indicated that we must pursue this through judicial and diplomatic channels; we have sent the documents, and they confirmed receipt; their last message was that further follow-up on Khavari's status must be done through Canadian judicial authorities." He noted that Khavari's arrest depends on a ruling from Canadian authorities, stating, "In some countries, a Red Notice is for identification, not arrest; they informed us that according to Canadian law, judicial authorities must issue an arrest warrant for Khavari." Mahmoudreza Khavari, who holds a Canadian passport, resigned in 2011 following the exposure of his involvement in a 3 trillion Toman embezzlement case and fled to Canada.