Intelligence ministry foils group funding MKO
TEHRAN- Iran's intelligence officers have detected and disrupted a cell accountable for financing and providing weapons to the terrorist group Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), as well as laundering the revenues of the organization’s illegal operations.
In a statement issued on Monday, Iran's intelligence ministry said six members of the group were apprehended in simultaneous operations around the country, while 10 more were subpoenaed and several other suspects are still at large.
Based on the statement, the cell employed complicated money laundering ways to transfer cash from overseas into Iran and supplied munitions and other equipment to MKO-affiliated squads in order for them to conduct terrorist actions.
The intelligence apparatus also underlined that Ali Mohammad Dowlati, the cell's ringleader, is a prominent MKO member having various offices in the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He conducted business in Albania, the United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands while supporting the terrorists financially and logistically by providing a cover for their activities.
With the intention of removing any potential signs of connection with the terrorist organization, multiple offices, firms, and individuals affiliated to the MKO were operating within Iran and receiving funds and equipment from those stationed outside the country.
Following the death of Mahsa Amini, who fainted while in police custody and was identified as dead days later at a Tehran hospital on September 16, they even recruited a number of thugs, hooligans and vandals during recent uprisings in Iran.
The intelligence ministry went on to emphasize that the operations of the dissolved group and its associates are still being investigated, adding that the Interpol would pursue any of the group's members who are stationed abroad on suspicion of “sponsorship of terrorism” and “organized money laundering.”
The ministry further sent warnings to the countries harboring MKO terrorists, including Albania, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates, stressing that given the terrorists' criminal histories, their presence there would only result in unlawful and terrorist activities.