Members of MKO Terror Group Arrested in Albania for Drug Trafficking, Human Smuggling
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK) terrorist group have been arrested for drug trafficking, people smuggling, and money laundering, according to an official document seen by Albania Newspaper Exit.
The document, addressed to a foreign diplomatic recipient, bearing the signature and stamp of the Director of the Criminal Police Department in the State Police, gives details of a serious rap sheet of offences, reportedly involving MEK members.
It states that two members of the MEK, along with Albanian and Greek accomplices, were apprehended for direct involvement in human trafficking. On July 11, 2021, police stopped a car carrying Syrian, Iraqi, and Kurdish citizens. Further investigations led to the arrest of the main gang members.
According to the document, it was discovered that between 2019 and 2021, the same smuggling gang attempted to transfer some 400 members of the MEK from Albania to France.
But that is not all. On July 18, 2021, a consignment of drugs was seized by police and two MEK senior officials—Narges Abrishamchi and Hassan Nayeb-Agha—were arrested. It is reported in the official document they confessed to playing a pivotal role in organizing and transporting a shipment of drugs to Italy.
This pattern of criminality, according to an official source who wished to remain anonymous, told Exit, dates back to 2015. The documents and the source claim that information on these crimes has also been handed over to the US Embassy in Tirana.
Exit contacted the US Embassy to comment but no formal response has been given.
The MEK (or MKO) terrorist organization, otherwise known as the People’s Mujahedin, has a record of assassinating around 12,000 high ranking Iranian officials.
One of the most terrible of such terrorist attacks by the MEK was the 1981 bombing of the Islamic Republic Party’s headquarters in Tehran. During the attack, the head of Iran’s Supreme Court, Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti, along with 72 of his companions were killed. Many of them were either parliamentarian or held ministerial positions in the cabinet.
Although the designation has since been lifted, it was previously considered a terrorist organization by the EU, Canada, the US, and Japan. They now enjoy widespread support and even protection by the EU and the US and have been granted refuge in Albania since 2013.
The US government requested the group, in exile, be settled in Albania in 2013, but MEK initially rejected the offer. They eventually agreed to relocate 3,000 members to the country, and the US donated $20 million to the UN refugee agency for the cause.
In 2016, a further 280 members moved to Albania to a heavily guarded compound in Manze, Durres County.
