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Yemen arrests Iranian investors allegedly running spy cells, military equipment

09 October 2012 02:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Yemeni Defence Ministry said Monday that it has arrested a number of "Iranian investors who were allegedly running spy cells in Yemen," confiscating their camouflaged equipment that could be used for making weapons, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The Iranians had entered Yemen as investors and they were granted license to set up a factory," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

"The Iranians began importing tools and machines from Tehran to establish the factory, and when one of the containers was inspected in the Yemeni southern port of Aden, it revealed that the equipment it was carrying was not for civilian purposes or related to the factory, but for military," said the ministry.

"When re-assembled, the equipment can manufacture rockets and various weapons... The Iranians were subsequently arrested by the Yemeni security services," the ministry said.

Relations between Yemen and Iran have become strained since 2004 after Yemen accused Iran of funding a Shi’ite rebellion in northern Yemen, an accusation was denied by Tehran.

Last week, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said during his visit to the United States that "five spy cells working for Tehran had been referred to the Judiciary as the Yemeni security services have recently dismantled a sixth spy network."

"Iran also provides media, military, intelligence and financial supplies to the armed (Shi’ite) rebels in the north of Yemen and pro-separatism movement in the south... " the defence ministry’s website quoted Hadi as saying during his meeting with U.S. officials in Washington.

Backed by the United States, Hadi took office in February this year to lead a two-year political interim process after the stepping down of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh under a peaceful transfer of power supervised by the United Nations.