Attack foiled: Peru arrests two men who planned to attack Israeli

(A7) Peruvian police on Friday said they had captured an Iranian and a Peruvian national who were allegedly planning an attack on an Israeli person at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), scheduled to be held in the country later this year, Reuters reported.

Peru’s chief of police, Oscar Arriola, told a press conference the arrests were made after an investigation in coordination with international intelligence agencies, which provided “sensitive” information about an Iranian citizen who arrived in Peru at the beginning of March.

“We had to act quickly because today (the Iranian) was set to return to Iran after forming a terrorist cell to wipe out an Israeli national” who was going to participate in the APEC event, Arriola said, according to Reuters.

Both the Iranian, whom Arriola identified as 56-year-old Majid Azizi, and the Peruvian were arrested on Thursday, he said. Azizi also holds Peruvian nationality by marriage.

The police chief said that authorities had identified the Israeli who would have been targeted in the attack, though they were choosing not to release the person’s name due to security reasons.

Iran has been implicated in numerous terrorist plots to attack Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. In March of last year, the Ministry of Defense and the Anti-Terrorism Unit in Greece arrested two suspects of Pakistani origin on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack against Israeli targets in the country, including in Athens.

Greek authorities said the suspects were planning to attack the Chabad of Athens center and had staked out the center for several days in preparation for the attack.

In November 2022, the country of Georgia announced that it had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate Israeli-Georgian businessman Itsik Moshe.

The plot, which involved Pakistanis affiliated with Al-Qaeda, came to light after Georgian security forces noticed a member of the Pakistani agents acting suspiciously.