The identity of the Pakistani handler who ran the terrorists operating on behalf of Iran, who were arrested last week in Greece while planning terrorist attackd on Jewish targets, was revealed on Tuesday, Haaretz reported.
The report quoted a security official who named the agent as Mohammad Mohsen Reza, 65, a Pakistani national who has been in the service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards for years.
Reza, who lives in the Iranian city of Qom, is said to have worldwide contacts that the IRG has been taking advantage of for expanding their terrorist network, many times recruiting young Pakistanis.
Greek media reported last week that a terrorist plot targeting a kosher restaurant in downtown Athens and other Jewish targets was foiled.
According to the reports, police in Athens arrested two Iranian terrorists of Pakistani origin on suspicion of planning to attack a number of targets related to Israel and the Jewish community in the Greek capital.
The authorities in Greece claimed that the two were caught shortly before they intended to carry out an attack on a Jewish restaurant operating in the center of Athens and that they were identified after they had observed the restaurant for several days. This aroused suspicion from the authorities.
Another target of the terrorists, beyond the Jewish restaurant, was the main synagogue of the Jewish community in Athens—but the synagogue is relatively inactive during the middle of the week, operating primarily on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
According to the Greek security services, the two would-be attackers were undocumented immigrants from Pakistan’s Sargodha District. The two men, Hussein Abid, 29, and Irtaza Haider, 27, were hired by Iran’s intelligence agencies and were in the final stages of planning the attack. According to media reports, they were also attempting to find more recruits.
The operatives are members of a large Iranian international terror network, according to Haaretz, that is managed by the IRG.
It has been reported that Greece began investigating the two suspects last year after being handed intelligence by the Mossad. Their arrest was ordered in March after law enforcement decided they had enough evidence to apprehend the suspects, who were taken into custody on charges of being illegal immigrants.