'Iranian arms smuggler' captured by Nato in Afghanistan

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

December 24 2010 | Last updated at 09:20 GMT -

A member of the elite al-Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been captured in southern Afghanistan accused of arms smuggling, Nato says.

He was detained last Saturday in southern Kandahar province, the current focus of Nato offensives.

The man was a "key Taliban weapons facilitator" involved in smuggling arms from Iran to Afghanistan, said a Nato statement.

=snip=

The man was detained "for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimruz province," a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12073334

[geckosfeet]

1. Some odd but intruiging tidbits in this BBC piece with no byline.

'Iran arms smuggler' captured by Nato in Afghanistan

A senior Afghan security official in Kandahar said coalition forces had been monitoring the man for some time.

He told the BBC: "Iranian intelligence officers are helping the Taliban and drug dealers in the south. We deal with it every day. This is a known fact now.

"It was the international forces who arrested him. They had been listening to him for some time and monitoring his electronic communications."

Hmm. Electronic surveillance. Probably standard issue in Afghanistan.

And here is the 'money' line:

Earlier this year, it emerged President Hamid Karzai's government had been receiving bags of cash from Iran.

Is it normal for BBC News pieces to not have bylines? Their disclaimer says that they are not responsible for the content of external sites, but the piece includes the name of someone from the BBC. I wonder if they are trying to protect their journalists.

[Robb]

2. ISAF has backed away from the Qods angle

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/62562/correction-isaf-clarifies-status-cross-border-weapons-facilitator