click to enlarge
Graphic depicting Rigi capture operation. Rigi's passenger plane (likely B-737, Kyrgyzstan Airlines QH 454, operated by Eastok Avia), enroute from Dubai (DXB / OMDB) to Bishkek-Manas, Kyrgyzstan (FRU / UAFM), with 113 passengers onboard, is forced to land at Bandar Abbas/TFB.9 (BND / OIKB) by two intercepting IRIAF F-4E Phantom II strike fighters of 91 TFS.VEVAK commandos stormed the aircraft and apprehended Rigi. From Bandar Abbas/TFB.9, he was placed onboard an IRIAF Dassault Falcon (Mystere) 20E, flown to an undisclosed location (likely Mehrababd/TFB.1) and incarcerated.
New video. Quick translation: Rigi went to a US military base in Afghanistan; he traveled to Dubai and boarded a plane to Kyrgyzstan; from there he planned to travel to Europe. While in Iranian airspace, Rigi's plane was forced to land in Iran.
The flight which was forced down was most likely Kyrgyzstan Airlines QH 454 operated by Eastok Avia.
ReplyDeleteThanks anon.
ReplyDeleteAccording to 'Baloch News,' the Central Committee of Rigi's outfit - Jundullah - has today (February 25) appointed a replacement for their captured commander.
ReplyDeleteThe new leader's name is Mohammad Zaher.
In the same communiqué purportedly from Jundullah, they also pledge to step up their activities.
Here is the link, but it is available in Persian only:
http://baloch-news.blogsky.com/1388/12/06/post-2835/
More information is surfacing pointing to even bigger holes in the official Iranian version of the events surrounding Rigi’s arrest.
ReplyDeleteIn a statement issued by Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry, Bishkek has protested against the forcing down one of its airliners by Iran.
The most interesting thing is that the statement goes on to say “"information... published in some media about the detention of foreign nationals on board the Kyrgyzstan Airlines aircraft does not correspond with reality."
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20100301T081346ZGXM68/Kyrgyzstan%20protests%20to%20Iran%20over%20seized%20militant/
Day by day, the airline episode seems more like a smokescreen by the Tehran regime for what it considers to be self-aggrandizement and distraction before the restive domestic opposition and also for its anti-US propaganda.
In all likelihood, the Pakistanis extradited Rigi to Iran some days before the official revelations and the Kyrgyz airliner episode was engineered by one of the several parallel security services in Iran.
The fact that Rigi was arrested in a foreign country and extradited to Iran was acknowledged from the beginning by Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, who was a senior IRGC commander and personally deeply involved in seeking Rigi’s extradition from Pakistan. As part of this, in October he had met his Pakistani counterpart and ISI director to press for Rigi’s handover.
Following Rigi’s arrest, the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran also said that Pakistan was involved in this, but that further information would be revealed later.
Meanwhile, the very lowly-regarded Iranian Intelligence Minister Moslehi gave a contradicting and ‘Hollywoodesque’ version of events and, instead of acknowledging and thanking Pakistan for its assistance, insisted that no other country was involved in this. (Appropriately, one of the state film-production companies has already announced plans for making a film about Rigi’s capture!)
And now, Kyrgyzstan flatly denies that any arrest took place abroad their airliner, which seems to have been forced down for show purposes only.
It is also noteworthy that Tehran has not released any films of capturing Rigi from the Kyrgyzstan Airlines aircraft, but only one where he was supposedly arrested in an ancient Falcon jet.