BLACKEAGLE
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The Nigerian secret service today announced that it had arrested three Nigerians who were part of a terrorist cell trained in Iran. The cell was believed to be planning to attack U.S. and Israeli targets in Nigeria as part of an effort to “unsettle” the West.
But the Iranians rejected the accusations made by the Nigerian secret service.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying he “rejected Nigerian and Western media reports of illegal activities by the Islamic republic in Nigeria.”
Amir-Abdollahian urged the Nigerians to refrain from such accusations because relations between Iran and Nigeria were “developing.”
The State Security Service in Nigeria announced that they arrested Abdullahi Mustapha Berende and two other Nigerians in December. They claim the arrests were made after Berende made several “suspicious” trips to Iran, where he interacted with Iranians in a “high-profile terrorist network.”
“His Iranian sponsors requested that he identifies and gathers intelligence on public places and prominent hotels frequented by Americans and Israelis to facilitate attacks,” SSS spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said in a statement. “There is conclusive evidence that Berende, in collaboration with his Iranian handlers, were involved in grievous crimes against the national security of this country.”
Ogar said Berende was the leader of a Shiite sect in the central city of Ilorin.
She said Berende gave to his Iranian handlers the names of former dictator Ibrahim Babangida, and ex-supreme leader of Muslims in Nigeria, Ibrahim Dasuki, as targets—though it’s not entirely clear why attacks against those Nigerians would prove unsettling to the West. Other targets were the USAID building and the Jewish Cultural Centre (Chabad) in Lagos, Ogar said.
Ogar said Berende, 50, was tracked over a six-month period. He allegedly received a mandate from Iran — where he received training in weapons handling and the use of improvised devices — to establish a cell in Lagos and coordinate attacks under the cover of running a business.
Nigerians Claim To Have Broken Up Terrorist Cell with Links to Iran
But the Iranians rejected the accusations made by the Nigerian secret service.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying he “rejected Nigerian and Western media reports of illegal activities by the Islamic republic in Nigeria.”
Amir-Abdollahian urged the Nigerians to refrain from such accusations because relations between Iran and Nigeria were “developing.”
The State Security Service in Nigeria announced that they arrested Abdullahi Mustapha Berende and two other Nigerians in December. They claim the arrests were made after Berende made several “suspicious” trips to Iran, where he interacted with Iranians in a “high-profile terrorist network.”
“His Iranian sponsors requested that he identifies and gathers intelligence on public places and prominent hotels frequented by Americans and Israelis to facilitate attacks,” SSS spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said in a statement. “There is conclusive evidence that Berende, in collaboration with his Iranian handlers, were involved in grievous crimes against the national security of this country.”
Ogar said Berende was the leader of a Shiite sect in the central city of Ilorin.
She said Berende gave to his Iranian handlers the names of former dictator Ibrahim Babangida, and ex-supreme leader of Muslims in Nigeria, Ibrahim Dasuki, as targets—though it’s not entirely clear why attacks against those Nigerians would prove unsettling to the West. Other targets were the USAID building and the Jewish Cultural Centre (Chabad) in Lagos, Ogar said.
Ogar said Berende, 50, was tracked over a six-month period. He allegedly received a mandate from Iran — where he received training in weapons handling and the use of improvised devices — to establish a cell in Lagos and coordinate attacks under the cover of running a business.
Nigerians Claim To Have Broken Up Terrorist Cell with Links to Iran
