Iran ‘spies’ held in Nigeria

TEHRAN: Iran has rejected accusations that it committed any “illegal act” in Nigeria after that nation’s secret police arrested three Nigerians accused of spying for the Islamic republic.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reportedly said yesterday he “rejected Nigerian and Western media reports of illegal activities by the Islamic republic in Nigeria”.

Amir-Abdollahian said relations between Iran and Nigeria were “developing” and urged officials of the two nations to prevent such accusations from being made.

On Wednesday the Nigerian secret police paraded a 50-year-old Islamic cleric and two accomplices on charges of spying on prominent individuals and targets for Iran.

Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, presented as a leader of the Shia sect in the city of Ilorin, was arrested in December “for his active involvement in espionage and terrorist activities”, Nigerian security service spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said.

Investigations revealed Berende, accused of establishing a “terrorist cell” in Nigeria’s south-west, with a particular emphasis on Lagos, recruited the two other suspects for the task, Ogar said.

Berende had been trained in Iran and his Iranian sponsors asked him “to identify and gather intelligence on public places and prominent hotels frequented by Americans and Israelis to facilitate attacks”.

He allegedly gave to his Iranian handlers the names of former dictator Ibrahim Babangida, and exsupreme leader of Muslims in Nigeria, Ibrahim Dasuki, as targets for attacks that could “unsettle the West”, Ogar added.

Berende admitted seeking information about some individuals and institutions. These included USAID and the Jewish Cultural Centre ( Chabad) in Lagos, Ogar said, adding the suspects would soon be charged in court. – Sapa-AFP