A brief update on IRGC officers and assets in Nigeria

[Aaron]

The rather uptight looking Iranian gentleman seen here...

Those are IMI Tavor rifles being carried by the guards :-)

...is known as Azim Aghajani. When the Nigerians seized 240 tons of munitions in shipping containers labeled 'construction materials' in 2010, they got two Iranians and a local contact in the bargain. Actually, the Iranians fled to the IRI embassy in Abuja. One, believed to be Ali Akbar Tabatabaei, was subsequently allowed to leave Nigeria, while the other - Mr. Aghajani - was turned over to Nigerian authorities. Aghajani is just now getting his day(s) in court, where he has denied knowing anything about the weapons shipment he was handling. Aghajani and his co-defendant had been free on bail, but at a hearing in January "... they were ordered to be remanded in prison custody. The trial judge said he took the decision to have them remanded in prison custody in the wake of recent developments and the sensitive nature of the case." Which brings us to...

[Aaron]

Beginning in December of 2012, the Nigerians first arrested the IRGC's local asset, Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, and then two of the three people he recruited to assist in the project. The SSS trotted them out before the press on 20 February.

Berende at the 20 February press conference

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Accomplices Saheed Aderemi Adewumi (l) and Sulaiman Olayinka Saka (r)
Still at large is Bunyamin Yusuf

Pertinent details:

• Berende was admitted to the 6-month course in da'wa at Imam Khomeini U. in Iran in 2006.
• He returned to Iran in 2011 for "further studies" whereupon he was recruited by the IRGC and received training in weapons and explosives.
• Berende met again with his handlers in 2012 and was tasked with setting up a cell in Lagos. This meeting allegedly took place in Dubai.
• He was given roughly $30,000 USD to set up a front company in Lagos and cover expenses.

A rough accounting of money received and spent:

• $4,000 upon completion of his training in Iran in 2011
• €3,500 in April, 2012 at the meeting in Dubai
• $20,000 out of which he used $10,000 in relocating to Lagos from Ilorin, furnishing a house and renting a shop for his business.
• $5000 to cover visa processing expenses while the remaining $5000 was for his up-keep.

At the behest of his handler(s) in Iran he and his team conducted surveillance on multiple targets including:

• Israeli shipping firm ZIM
• The Chabbad House
• USAID and the US Peace

Why was Lagos chosen in the first place? "Berende confessed that Lagos was chosen for attack because the Iranians believe that Israel has an intelligence facility in the area for spying on Iran..."

Oh, you mean the IRGC is sore over losing that 240 ton shipment of weapons? Well, that's too bad. Perhaps Berende & Co. can get together with Aghajani in prison and form a religious study group.