, acting on orders issued by the Special Prosecutor’s Office){kind=link}
Albania’s Special Structure for Combatting Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), acting on orders issued by the Special Prosecutor’s Office, detained and interrogated 20 Iranians for conducting espionage operations in Albania for the Iranian regime, according to Albanian media reports on July 16. Albanian Police raided eight apartments, four offices, and several buildings where the Iranian regime agents resided in and used to carry out their suspicious prohibited activities against the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in their Ashraf 3 complex, located near Tirana, the capital of Albania.
One of the searched buildings, known as the ASILA Association, is a front entity launched by the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) in Albania under the guise of a non-government organization, was also searched.
These individuals had been under investigation for four years, according to Albanian authorities, and are suspected of pursuing their espionage on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), an entity designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), according to EuroNews Albania.
On July 12, the Special Court for Combatting Corruption and Organized Crime in Albania issued search warrants for premises and property associated with the following Iranian regime agents: Hassan Heyrani, Mehdi Soleimani, Gholamreza Shekari, Mostafa Beheshti, Abdolrahman Mohammadian, Hassan Shahbaz, Sarfaraz Rahimi, Mahmoud Dehghan Gourabi, Mohammad Reza Seddigh, Reza Islami, and Ali Hajari. Authorities also confiscated all their electronic equipment, including mobile phones, computers, tape recorders, and documents.
Albanian authorities conducted their operations to prevent “any possible terrorist attack,” according to Albanian media citing a court order. These individuals are accused of “receiving money from Iran’s secret services, the Qods Force, and the IRGC to obtain information about the MEK in Albania,” the court order further explains.
SPAK authorities raided a terrorist cell back in 2019, according to a July 16 report published by The Balkan Web. News 24 has disclosed the complete investigation file, indicating that the terrorist cell had planned to target senior MEK official Mehdi Abrishamchi in Albania. This cell was also monitoring other MEK members in Albania.
These latest developments in Albania are directly tied to Bijan Pooladrag, another Iranian regime agent arrested by Albanian authorities two years ago.
“The individuals in question are suspected of being members of a spy group, where Bijan Pooladrag, a former member of the MEK, was previously arrested… He is accused by SPAK of being part of a terrorist cell that intended to attack senior officials of the Iranian opposition, who live in Ashraf 3. He received orders and instructions through the Telegram application. And according to the investigations, the assassination of one of the senior members of the Mujahedin Khalq was being planned. One of Iran’s intelligence officers had ordered the defendant to procure a Kalashnikov machinegun in the black market and find trained people who could commit murder,” News24 added.
On February 17, 2021, Hadi Sani Khani, an Iranian national who had left the MEK’s ranks in 2016, wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres revealing his four-year long collaboration with the same individuals, especially Hassan Heyrani, the ringleader and liaison between the mullahs’ network of agents in Albania and the Iranian regime embassy in Tirana.
“During this period, I began to collaborate with official agents of the MOIS in the Embassy in Albania…. and MOIS agents, including Ebrahim and Massoud Khodabandeh, Gholamreza Shekari and Ehsan Bidi, and later Hassan Heyrani. They used me in demonization, espionage, intelligence gathering, and reconnoitering schemes to carry out terrorist actions against the MEK,” Sani Khani wrote.
Background:
In October 2020, the Albanian government ordered the arrest and expulsion of another Iranian regime spy, according to several Albanian outlets. The Interior Ministry of Albania designated of Ehsan Bidi, a known agent of the Iranian regime, as persona non grata and ordered his expulsion from Albanian soil on October 17, 2020.
The Iranian regime has resorted to terror plots aiming to undermine the efforts of the Iranian Resistance. In 2018, Albanian authorities thwarted an attempt by Tehran to bomb an MEK celebration gathering near Tirana. The attempt led to the expulsion of a senior Iranian diplomat from Albania. Two other diplomats were expelled in January 2020 and an educational center run by the Iranian regime was shut down after it was revealed to be a cover for Tehran’s espionage activities against the MEK.
In July 2020, “Another Iranian individual has been designated by Albanian authorities as persona non grata (unwelcomed element) for his actions against the Iranian opposition (PMOI/MEK) in Albania, and signs indicate he will be expelled from Albania in the coming hours,” according to Albania’s Top Channel TV network reported at the time, adding that the person in question would be banned from entering Albania for the next 15 years.
This individual, Danial Kasraie, is an Iranian national with a citizenship from Italy. This 29-year-old man was suspected of espionage and intentions to penetrate on behalf of the Iranian regime’s MOIS.
Kasraie was classified as a dangerous figure.
He violated public security regulations, according to reports issued by Albanian anti-terrorism agencies. Orders for his departure were signed by Albanian Interior Minister Sandër Lleshaj with Decision Number 172.
Danial Kasraie had time and again been seen near Ashraf 3. He has on behalf of the Iranian regime attempted to recruit current or former MEK members.
In 2019, Albania’s Police Chief announced the uncovering of a terrorist network connected to the Iranian regime in that country.
The common denominator of all activities against MEK members in Albania and other countries is the Iranian regime’s embassies in those countries. This further highlights the threat the regime’s so-called diplomatic facilities and NGOs pose to global security and once again underlines the need to shut down the regime’s embassies across the world.
The mullahs’ regime historically considers the MEK as the main threat to its rule. The MEK has been the only movement that has consistently called for regime change in Iran and the establishment of a free and democratic state.
In four decades of its rule, the regime has failed to physically annihilate the MEK in the course of over 120,000 executions and waves of terrorism. Therefore, it has resorted for over two decades to disinformation campaigns and spreading lies in order to mislead the public opinion on Iran’s democratic alternative. Today, these misinformation efforts are focused on Ashraf 3, the home of MEK members in Albania.
Many senior officials of the Mullahs regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, talk daily about the MEK and the danger the organization poses to the ruling regime, warning about its role in leading nationwide protests such as December 2017 and November 2019 by the Iranian people. They hope that by defaming the MEK and casting doubt on its values, they will be able to extend their own rule. But the reality they can’t deny is that Ashraf 3, as the bastion of hope and freedom in Iran, is growing stronger every day and inspiring many youth and freedom lovers in Iran to stand up for their rights against the brutal regime that has hijacked their sovereignty for more than four decades.