Jundallah chief Abdolmalek Rigi nabbed in Iran

TEHRAN - The chief of the militant Sunni Muslim group Jundullah, Abdolmalek Rigi has reportedly been apprehended while on a flight heading to an Arab country via Pakistan.

According to an Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Dehghan, Rigi was arrested on Tuesday after the plane he was travelling in was forced to land.

“Rigi was arrested in Persian Gulf waters while he was travelling on a plane via Pakistan to an Arab country. His plane was ordered to land, and then he was arrested after the plane was searched,” The Dawn quoted Dehghan, as saying.

Iran’s national television Al-Alam also confirmed Rigi’s arrest, saying he was nabbed in the eastern part of the country.

Jundullah (Soldiers of God) is engaged in activities against Tehran’s Shiite ruled Sistan-Balochistan province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While Iran maintains that last year’s terror attack targeting the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRG), which killed 42 persons, was carried out by perpetrators hiding inside Pakistan and has repeatedly asked Islamabad to ‘clarify’ its stance over reports regarding its links with the banned terror group, Pakistan insists that Rigi was not in Pakistan and Jundallah operated in a ‘triangle region’ straddling Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, making it harder to act against the group which had its bases in Afghanistan. (ANI)