Another criminal group acting upon Iran's instructions exposed in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 16. Another criminal group has been identified in Azerbaijan, acting upon the instructions of Iran, Trend reports citing a joint statement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Service and the Prosecutor General's Office.

Regular operational measures were carried out to stop the criminal actions of a group of Azerbaijani citizens recruited by the Iranian special services through religious propaganda and in exchange for material interest in order to destabilize the situation on the territory of Azerbaijan.

It was identified that Rufulla Akhundzade and his son Almursal Akhundzade, who collaborated with the special services of Iran, developed an action plan to organize armed riots on the territory of Azerbaijan.

As part of the plan, Rufulla Akhundzade created special groups in WhatsApp, Telegram and other messengers. In addition, Rufulla Akhundzade and his son presented to the members of the group a list of officials and public figures for the organization of assassination attempts on their lives, their personal data, addresses of places of residence and work. He gave instructions to the members of the group to purchase firearms.

During the operation, Elgun Agayev, Ruslan Aliyev, Yusif Mirzoyev, Elvin Jafarov, Savalan Huseynli, Bilal Sujaddinli, Maharramali Musayev and other members of the group were detained.

Rufulla Akhundzade was engaged in instructing the listed persons and constantly held online meetings with them in order to keep them under influence. The members of the criminal group said in their testimony that they were preparing to carry out various subversive actions, organize mass riots and other similar activities, as well as to attract other persons to the "resistance group" on the instructions of Rufulla Akhundzade.

In addition, they wrote radical religious slogans on the streets near the administrative buildings of various state bodies, photographed them and shared these photos on social networks. Rufulla Akhundzade also planned to send members of the group to Iran under the pretext of receiving religious education, but in fact to involve them in military exercises and involvement in illegal armed extremist organizations.

The members of the group also sent money from abroad to promote religious radicalism in Azerbaijan and finance other subversive activities.