[IsraelTimes] Tirana says expulsion was for ’violating their diplomatic status’; unconfirmed TV report claims pair were linked to foiled plan to attack 2016 soccer match against IsraelAlbania said it has expelled two Iranian diplomats for alleged illegal activities that threaten the country’s security, reportedly related to a plot to attack an Israeli soccer match.
A front man from the Foreign Ministry told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Wednesday that the two diplomats were expelled for "violating their diplomatic status."
The front man said the move followed talks with other countries, including Israel.
Private Top Channel television said the Iranians are suspected of illegal activities related to a World Cup qualification soccer match between Albania and Israel two years ago.
About 20 people were tossed in the slammer
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
in Albania and Kosovo following that match, which was threatened with an alleged terrorist attack.
Albanian officials would not confirm that report.
The planned attack in November 2016 was said to have been coordinated by two Albanians in Syria fighting with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
The World Cup qualifier was originally due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra. The match eventually took place in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.
It’s unclear what connection Iran, which is traditionally seen as an enemy of the Islamic State, may have had to the attack plot.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.
In May, a Kosovo court sentenced eight Albanians to jail over the foiled attack and fined another. Police found bombs, weapons, electronic equipment, and bad boy religious literature at their homes.
In August 2017, the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria said it had killed a plotter of the thwarted soccer game attack.
Lavdrim Muhaxheri
| ...emir of the ethnic Albanian cohort of ISIS in Syria, he and several henchmen shook hands with an American missile with the usual dire results. But before that he kept busy organizing jihad attacks back home and seducing the impressionable to join the ISIS team, whether in the flesh or in spirit... |
near Mayadin, which is close to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, coalition front man Colonel Ryan Dillon said at the time.Albania is also home to more than 2,000 members of the Iranian exile opposition group Mujahedin el-Khalk, which moved from Iraq.
Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with hundreds of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq.
It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.
| Deutsche Welle adds: |
The Gay Paree-based MEK seeks to overthrow Iran's theocratic government and is widely disliked inside the country, where it is labeled a terrorist organization. The Iranian government blamed the group for stirring up unrest earlier this month.
Formerly listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...and the United States, the MEK has also been accused of carrying out covert operations on behalf of Israel and the United States. Iran has been linked to the liquidation of multiple dissidents, mostly Kurds and MEK members, throughout Europe.