Lima Peru — A Peruvian judge has ordered 18 months of preventive detention for an Iranian and two Peruvians while they are investigated for allegedly trying to kill two Israelis residing in the South American country.
The ruling by Magistrate Miguel Quevedo was issued on Tuesday but made public on Wednesday. The defendants are also charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism.
The judge said the motive for the failed assassination plot was unclear, but police and prosecutors in Peru have said Iranian Majid Azizi could be a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which is responsible for intelligence work. outside Iran. .
The Associated Press could not independently confirm whether Azizi is a member of the Quds Force. Iranian authorities have not commented.
On March 15, after Azizi’s arrest, the Israeli embassy in Lima thanked the Peruvian police and prosecutor’s office in a press release “for having dismantled an Iranian attack that was directed against an Israeli citizen.”
Prosecutors in Peru later said that images, messages and testimonies were found indicating that Azizi contacted Peruvians Walter Loja and Angelo Trucios in March to plan the murder of Israeli Shachar Malka.
Malka, who is alive, has said on social media that he has been working as a tour guide and traditional plant healer in Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas, for more than five years.
The other Israeli citizen they allegedly planned to kill was Gilad Duchovny, who opened a cafe in Cusco in 2006 with his twin brother.
According to the judge, “it has been demonstrated with a high degree of plausibility” that Azizi conspired with the Peruvians to kill the Israelis. Police found information about Malka and Duchovny at Azizi’s home in Lima. One of the detained Peruvians, Trucios, has a conviction for murder and aggravated robbery.
Azizi’s defense has denied all the charges against him and claims that he suffers from a serious heart disease.
Peruvian authorities say Azizi entered Lima on March 3 and were alerted about him by foreign intelligence offices.
Iran has conducted intelligence operations in South America in the past, particularly through its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Quds, or Jerusalem, Expeditionary Force.
Iran maintains close ties with Venezuela. The Quds Force was linked to a Boeing 747 seized in Argentina and later seized by the United States. Most notably, Argentina believes Iran was behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center that killed 85 people.
This is the first time that Peruvian authorities have announced the arrest of an alleged member of that group.