Turkish authorities claim Iranian opposition figure Habib Chaab was lured to Istanbul by a female spy, where he was abducted. Sky News has been given exclusive access to Turkish counter terrorism files which show how Mr Chaab was lured into the trap and smuggled back into Iran.
This is the plot involving an Iranian dissident and the female spy who lured him to Istanbul the network of men who schemed to trap him and the late night meeting where he was kidnapped and smuggled to Iran. Habib who has Swedish citizenship now faces public execution. Turkish investigators claimed they uncovered an elaborate abduction plan carried out on their soil by Iranian intelligence. The honey trap was a young woman according to the Turkish authorities in the pictures she’s seen checking in for a flight to Istanbul in front of her and in the baseball cap is a man accused of being part of the same kidnapping. The couple are next spotted two hours later in Istanbul. They briefly interact. Turkish investigators say the seduction and kidnap plan is now well underway. Outside the Istanbul airport security cameras again pick up the young woman identified as Sabarin Saeedy. She’s accused of persuading the Iranian dissident to meet her in Istanbul for a romantic tryst. She gets into a yellow taxi with the lovers rendezvous set for the following day according to Turkish intelligence. Her male companion is also spotted setting off to take one of the many buses into the city center. The following day is set for the kidnap hours before the victim arrives three of the gang are seen meeting in a city center café. A short time later two of the men are seen leaving and are picked up moments after that seen here on the left at the neighboring hardware store where they go about buying cable ties of different sizes. Turkish investigators say these will later be used to tie Habib chubs hands and feetjust before seven security cameras pick up their victim at passport control in Istanbul. Mr Chubb is spotted walking through the airport to go to a mobile phone counter where he appears to buy a sim card. About an hour after he’s arrived in turkey he’s seen getting into a blue taxi. The journey from the airport is about 77 kilometers to the rendezvous point at a petrol station in the city’s west it takes him nearly two hours before he gets there. Security cameras show a white transporter arriving. You can see it at the top of the screen they’re popular in the city amongst private taxi drivers. Turkish officials say the people inside a dark saloon car which drives through the petrol full court are working in tandem they wait in the nearby fast food lay-by Mr. chubb’s blue taxi is seen sweeping into the petrol station and after checking his female friend is waiting he collects his case from the boot of the car and heads off to meet her. The petrol station which was the meeting point looks quite different in daylight. I’m taking the same route that the Iranian dissident took that night and round the corner is where he thought he was going to be meeting his female contact aware the van was parked but once there. The Turkish authorities say he was kidnapped drugged and tied up and within hours he would be on route to being smuggled across the border to Iran. The gang accused of the kidnap travelled through the night according to the Turkish investigation but their first pit stop was at a petrol station about 80 kilometers away. Security cameras show the same transporter pulling in to fill up with petrol. Turkish officials say Habib Chab is inside at this point heavily sedated and tied down whilst one of the gang goes into the garage shop to buy refreshments they continue the journey which is a marathon 18-hour road trip across the country about 1600 kilometers east to the town of van not far from the Iranian border. The following day by late afternoon the transporter is seen in van center. This time with a smaller white car accompanying it. Turkish intelligence say the Iranian dissident is being taken to a house on the town’s edge. The same white car is seen leaving about an hour later heading in the direction of the Iranian border where the Turkish authorities say he smuggled across. Two days later Chubb appears on Iranian state television in an elaborate report and where he’s pictured blindfolded. He’s heard confessing to a terror attack on a military parade two years ago. Other Iranian dissidents insist that confession was forced from him and he’s a political dissident who’d been living in Sweden for more than a decade. His friends say he faces being executed and want the EU to step in urgently so they can use their diplomacy and bring him back at least to save their reputation, save their power. This is very important for us because we believe in in the European community. Anyway, the Turkish authorities have made a string of arrests after claims the kidnap was part of a prisoner swap with Iran. That’s been vehemently denied. The exact involvement of the young woman at the center of it all is still shrouded in mystery. Whatever the truth, Turkish investigators say she was smuggled back inside Iran, leaving shocked Iranian dissidents all over Europe wondering just how safe they are.
