Police Commander: Arrested 'Terrorists' Received Money Through an Arab Country

The police commander of Sistan and Baluchestan, who reported the arrest of 12 members of a group he described as 'terrorist' on Monday, January 15, later mentioned on Wednesday, January 24, that the number of arrested individuals from this group had risen to 18 and provided further details about the group. Hossein Rahimi stated that the group was formed in 2007 and listed at least 10 murders and the assassination of several others as actions that members of this group have 'confessed' to. According to Rahimi, after the attack on the police station in Raeesabad in Sistan and Baluchestan, two members of this group were arrested 'four months ago.' The police commander continued by saying that 'these individuals confessed that they received funds through a person who operates in one of the Arab countries.' He added: 'This person, who resides in the Arab country, deposited amounts into a person's account in the province, and through that, these individuals received their salaries, with a minimum amount for each operation being 400,000 tomans and a maximum of one million tomans, allocated according to each operation.' Rahimi stated that 'based on the confessions of the detainees,' they received 'military and ideological training' in Afghanistan and Pakistan for one to three months. According to Fars News Agency, he said in a press conference: 'Initially, we arrested two terrorists along with three firearms, a vehicle, and a motorcycle.' He added: 'After 20 days, those two began to confess and admitted that they were members of a group that carried out various operations against the people and the police.' Armed individuals, on Tuesday, October 22, shot at a police patrol vehicle from the Raeesabad Kishkor police station in the city of Sarbaz in Sistan and Baluchestan, injuring three police officers. The police commander of Sistan and Baluchestan mentioned the murders of three teachers named Javad Norouzi, Mohammad Islami, Eisa Shahreki, and also Adham Sabouri, a member of the Basij force, as 'actions of this group' in 2014. According to reports, on the evening of Friday, January 11, Eisa Shahreki, a teacher, and Adham Sabouri, a member of the local Basij force in 'Nasirabad village,' near the city of Rask in Sistan and Baluchestan, were killed by two motorcyclists. Previously, Javad Norouzi and Reza Sargazi had been assassinated in 2014 in Sistan and Baluchestan. According to Rahimi, the murder of Molavi Mostafa Jangzehi, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Rask in Sarbaz County, was also carried out by this group. Molavi Mostafa Jangizehi, a cleric close to the Iranian government, was killed in 2011. After his assassination, four individuals were sentenced to death in this case, and another suspect was sentenced to 13 years in prison and exile. The Revolutionary Court in Zahedan also sentenced Molavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Rask, to 15 years in prison and exile to Khalkhal. The police commander of Sistan and Baluchestan also stated that this group was involved in the murder of 'a civil registry employee in Sarbaz County, two police personnel at a checkpoint in Sarbaz County, and two border guards.' Rahimi also mentioned the execution of an explosive trap on the route of police vehicles in the Jekigour area as another action of this group. The southern police of Sistan and Baluchestan reported on Saturday, October 19, the explosion of an explosive trap on the route of two police vehicles in southern Sistan and Baluchestan in the Jekigour area, which, according to this report, did not result in casualties. In addition to the cases mentioned by the police commander of Sistan and Baluchestan in his statements on Wednesday, several other Iranian military and police forces in the Sistan and Baluchestan region have been killed by armed groups in the past four months. For instance, on Thursday, December 5, three police officers from the Zahak County in Sistan and Baluchestan were killed while on patrol. One day after this incident, Jamshid Rakhshani Nasab, the governor of Zahak, stated that 'seven suspects involved in this incident' had been arrested. On October 19, Bahram Bashandeh, the social affairs manager of the Iranshahr County governor's office, was targeted by two armed individuals and died in the hospital due to the severity of his injuries.