Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10RPODUBAI43
2010-02-23 13:48:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Iran RPO Dubai
Cable title:  

Iran Press: Iran Captures Jondollah Leader Rigi

Tags:  PGOV IR PREL 
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FM IRAN RPO DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0098
INFO IRAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI IMMEDIATE
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0001
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RPO DUBAI 000043 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/23
TAGS: PGOV IR PREL
SUBJECT: Iran Press: Iran Captures Jondollah Leader Rigi
(Supplemental - with Intelligence Minister Comments)

CLASSIFIED BY: Charles Pennypacker, Consular Officer, DOS, IRPO;
REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RPO DUBAI 000043

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/23
TAGS: PGOV IR PREL
SUBJECT: Iran Press: Iran Captures Jondollah Leader Rigi
(Supplemental - with Intelligence Minister Comments)

CLASSIFIED BY: Charles Pennypacker, Consular Officer, DOS, IRPO;
REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Iran has announced its capture of Jundollah head
Abdolmalek Rigi. While there are conflicting stories as to how and
where he was captured, the Iranian Intelligence Minister in a
February 23 press conference stressed Rigi's ties to US, UK and
Israeli intelligence services and trumpeted the arrest as more
proof of Iran's abilities to neutralize enemy plots. If true,
Rigi's arrest is a significant development. The Iran Gov't is more
concerned about insurrectionist activity from its Baluch minority
than from any other, and Jondollah leader Rigi is 'public enemy
number one' as far as Iran's intelligence/security officials are
concerned, especially after the recent assassination of senior
level IRGC commanders in Iranian Baluchestan. While it is unclear
to what extent Rigi's arrest would decapitate or neutralize
Jondollah, his capture (and that of his deputy),however it
occurred, would be a major victory for Iran. END SUMMARY.




2. (U) According to February 23 Iranian press, Iran has captured
Jundollah head Abdolmalek Rigi. Initial press indications are that
he was captured as a result of an Iranian intelligence operation
outside the country, then transported to Iran, although it is not
yet clear how and where he was captured (see para 5 below).




3. (U) Initial press reporting was scant, with Press TV's initial
announcement being that, "Abdolmalek Rigi, ringleader of the
Pakistan-based terrorist group of Jundallah, has been captured."
Rigi was reportedly captured on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.
Jundallah's number two man was also arrested." Other initial
reporting ascribed Rigi's arrest to the efforts of Iranian
intelligence officials (referred to euphemistically as 'the Unknown
Soldiers of the Lord of the Age.') ILNA reported that "the
Intelligence Ministry has announced the capture of Abdolmalek Rigi,
head of the Eastern Iran Terrorist Group. The Intelligence
Ministry's Public Relations Department said in an announcement that
"the Unknown Soldiers of the Lord of the Age [i.e. Intelligence
officers] in an important operation have captured Abdolmalek Rigi

the head of a terrorist group in Eastern Iran."




4. (U) In later press comments, Interior Minister Najjar told
Iranian press that "Abdolmalek Rigi, who was traveling in order to
plan new evil and conspiracies, was detained outside the country
and has been transferred to Iran." Najjar credited the capture to
the awareness of military, security and intelligence officials, who
captured him at an appropriate occasion. Najjar said this arrest
shows Iran's intelligence and security dominance, and its control
over regional security issues. He congratulated Supreme Leader
Khamenei on the arrest, saying "with the net we had spread, we were
able to capture him and now he is in the grip of Justice and the
Iranian nation." He said that Iran had been following Rigi and his
accomplices for a while and had sought to capture him alive.



DUBAI? FORCED LANDING? HOSPITAL GRAB?




5. (U) Initial indications are that Rigi was captured early morning
February 23, but it is still quite unclear as to how and where Rigi
was captured:



DUBAI-KYRGYZSTAN FLIGHT?: 'Javan' news service, affiliated with
the IRGC, reported late morning that on mid-morning February 23
Rigi was transferred from Dubai to Iran, and that he had been
captured by Iranian intelligence officials at the start of a flight
from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. 'Javan' also quoted Zahedan (capital of
Iran's SIstan va Baluchestan province) Public and Revolutionary
Prosecutor Mohammad Marzieh as telling press that Rigi's capture,
the result of a 'surprise operation,' occurred early Tuesday
morning with the intelligence and security participation, and that
it was the result of a long-term intelligence operation. He said

DUBAI 00000043 002 OF 003


Rigi was now in Iran and had been turned over to intelligence,
security and judicial officials.



PAKISTAN-GULF FLIGHT?: In comments to press Majlis Leadership Board
member Mohammad Dehqan said that Rigi was captured on a flight from
Pakistan heading to 'one of the Gulf countries.' Dehgan said the
plane was ordered to make an emergency landing while over the
Persian Gulf, and that after having done so Rigi was removed from
the plane;



HOSPITAL GRAB?: Various Iran news stories cite 'informed sources'
as saying he was taken by Iranian intelligence from a Pakistani
hospital where he was recovering from injuries;



GIFT FROM PAKISTAN?: Some other Iranian news sites are speculating
that Pakistan assisted Iran in his capture, either by passing his
location to the Iranians or by handing over the detained Rigi to
Iranian officials themselves. The website 'Iranian Diplomacy,'
affiliated with moderate Sadegh Larijani, suggested that Pakistani
intelligence, with the awareness and approval of the USG, turned
Rigi over to the US.




6. (U) Commenting on his capture to press, MFA Spokesman
Rahmanparast said that more details on Rigi's arrest would be soon
forthcoming from intelligence and security officials. He described
Rigi as the 'ringleader of a terrorist group that resorted to
crimes and murders and who sought to create an uprising in Iran. He
said America's support of this terrorist group is another example
of the basic roots of the region's problems and lack of security
stemming from other countries.




7. (U)In a February 23 press conference, Intelligence Minister
Hojatoleslam Heydar Moslehi characterized Rigi's capture as another
example of the capability of Iran's intelligence service to defuse
foreign-based threats, and:



- brandished a picture of Rigi "taken at an American base in
Afghanistan within the last 24 hours;"



- claimed that Rigi had met with the NATO Commander in Afghanistan
in April 2008 in which the Commander spoke of a 'Greater
Baluchestan' to Rigi, while also taking Rigi to an Al-Qaida camp in
Afghanistan;



- said that Rigi was captured inside Iran "without the help of any
foreign country or intelligence service," although Moslehi did not
provide operational details of Rigi's arrest;



- wielding documents, claimed that the intelligence services of the
US, UK and Israel, along with other European countries, were
supporting Rigi, and that he was in contact with these intelligence
services and those of 'some European countries;'



- showed what he called Rigi's Pakistani identification card, his
Afghan passport, and a picture of a Dubai visa for Rigi and his
deputy 'Hamzeh' who was captured with him, as evidence that Rigi
was traveling to various countries to cooperative with intelligence
officials;

DUBAI 00000043 003 OF 003


-claimed that in June 2009 Rigi with the coordination and help of
the UK traveled to a European country to discuss with that
country's officials terrorist acts against Iranian officials inside
Iran.




8. (C) COMMENT: If true, Rigi's arrest is a significant
development. The Iran Government is more concerned about
insurrectionist activity from its Baluch minority than from any
other, and Jondollah leader Rigi is 'public enemy number one' as
far as Iran's intelligence/security officials are concerned,
especially after the recent assassination of senior level IRGC
commanders in Iranian Baluchestan. While it is unclear to what
extent Rigi's arrest would decapitate or neutralize Jondollah, his
capture (and that of his deputy),however it occurred, would be a
major victory for Iran. END COMMENT.
EYRE