Three Years After the Murder, the Killers of Saipa's Hope Team Player Arrested

Three years after the murder of Omid Darbandi, a player for the Saipa Hope football team, his kidnappers and murderers have been arrested. In August 2013, Omid's father went to the police station in Shahrak-e Ziba and reported that his 22-year-old student son had left home. After a few hours, unknown men contacted him and demanded money for his son's release. He transferred the requested amount of ten million tomans to their account, but there was no news of his son's release. The next day, residents of the Zamanabad neighborhood in the Khavaran area found the body of a young man hanging while visiting a water well for farming. Investigations revealed that the young man was indeed Omid, who had been murdered with knife wounds. His car was also found a few hundred meters away. Special homicide detectives identified a man named Navid by examining the kidnappers' bank account. Navid claimed he was involved in transferring money for Afghan nationals residing in Iran back to their country and that Abdullah had entrusted him with the ten million tomans to transfer to Afghanistan. Investigating Abdullah, a 57-year-old man with a history of armed robbery and extortion, detectives found his hideout in the Shush area but discovered he had fled Iran. In November 2015, a man named Jamshid was killed at his workplace during a deal involving antique coins worth 130 million tomans after a confrontation with several Afghans. A similar crime occurred on December 30 in Pasdaran Street, where Majid Ghobadi was attacked and killed while trying to buy antique coins worth 120 million tomans. By examining surveillance camera footage, detectives identified the fugitive suspect in Omid's murder case. They recognized Shakrollah, 39, who had worked as a service staff member at Jamshid's workplace but disappeared at the time of the crime. Detectives learned that these two men, along with other criminals, planned to commit another robbery using the same method of selling antique coins, indicating another crime was imminent. A gold coin buyer in the Pirouzi area, after learning the sellers' real identities, stated he intended to buy 500 antique coins for 130 million tomans. On March 3, 2016, an operation to arrest the three members of the gang was carried out by detectives from the 10th police department. All three suspects attempted to flee using a sword. One suspect named Jalal was shot by detectives during the escape and died after being taken to the hospital. The other two suspects, named Gholam and Sakhi, were arrested. Detectives also discovered a bag containing 500 counterfeit antique coins. Immediately, investigations were conducted to identify the hideout of the group's main member (Abdullah). According to IRNA news agency, after a few minutes of denial, the two suspects explicitly confessed to Abdullah's leadership in the robberies leading to murder. After identifying Abdullah's hideout in the Heravi Square area, detectives conducted a surprise operation and arrested him and Shakrollah. During the search of the suspects' hideout, in addition to discovering belongings belonging to one of the victims named Jamshid, a checkbook belonging to another victim named Majid was also found. Mehdi, who was severely injured in the Pasdaran Street murder case, identified all four suspects after appearing at the 10th department. Colonel Hamid Makaram, deputy for combating serious crimes in Tehran police, stated that based on undeniable evidence and reasons, the commission of the crime and murder of Omid by this group of suspects has been confirmed. Detective Makaram further stated that due to the multiple histories of the suspects in committing violent crimes, especially robbery under the guise of passengers, an order was issued to release unmasked images of all four suspects.