Mossad agents posed as CIA operatives to recruit Jundallah men
WASHINGTON, Jan 14: Agents with Israel’s Mossad agency posed as American CIA agents in operations to recruit members of militant group Jundallah, a report in Foreign Policy magazine said on Friday.
Using American dollars and US passports, the agents passed themselves off as members of the Central Intelligence Agency in the operations, notably in London, according to memos from 2007 and 2008, said the report.
Jundallah says it is fighting in Iran for the interests of its southeastern province’s large ethnic Baluch community, whose members are largely Sunnis. The Baluch straddle the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and Jundallah militants have taken advantage of the unrest in the region to find safe haven in the border region.
“It’s amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with,” a US intelligence officer told Foreign Policy. “Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They didn’t give a damn what we thought,” said the official.—AFP