Peru arrests Iranian over plot to attack Asia-Pacific summit

Peru has arrested an Iranian national and a Peruvian citizen on charges of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).

The Peruvian Police’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate (Dircote) identified the Iranian as Majid Azizi, Peruvian media reported on March 7. Police said Azizi was cooperating with two Peruvians, Walter Fernández Fukunoto and Felipe Trucios Leon, for the attack. Only the former has been arrested, Iran International reports.

Azizi was arrested on March 7 afternoon after he withdrew money from the Interbank bank, located in the Plaza de Armas in the centre of the capital Lima. The Peruvian police did not specify which exact meeting was the target of the alleged terrorist operation.

According to the work schedule and the usual practices and standards of the forum, Peru is responsible for organizing more than 160 meetings from the end of 2023 and throughout 2024.

According to the US State Department, Senior Official for APEC Ambassador Matt Murray travelled to Lima from March 4 to 8 to attend a series of meetings, workshops, and stakeholder engagements.

This is the second time in the last decade that Iran in implicated in an attack in Peru.

In 2014, Peruvian authorities arrested a suspected operative of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lima on suspicion of planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets. Mohammed Amadar, a Lebanese citizen, was gathering intelligence on places frequented by Israeli hikers and on Jewish institutions. A search of his apartment discovered TNT, detonators and flammable substances. Peruvian authorities were tipped off to Amadar’s alleged activities by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.