Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
FBI official outlines foiled plot to kidnap Iranian dissident and indictments in U.S.
Summary
Roman Rojovsky described a transnational repression case in which FBI New York and counterintelligence HQ identified and indicted five people who planned to kidnap a dissident, allegedly move them by boat to Venezuela and then fly them to Iran.
Roman Rojovsky, assistant director of the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, described a recent transnational repression case in which the FBI foiled an alleged plot to abduct an Iranian dissident on U.S. soil.
Rojovsky said the Iranian intelligence officer first hired a private investigator to surveil the dissident. FBI counter-surveillance located the private investigator, and the agency arrested and indicted five people involved in the plot. “We did counter surveillance. We found the private investigator, and we indicted everyone involved, 5 individuals,” he said.
He described the conspiracy’s alleged plan to abduct the dissident, put them on a boat to Venezuela, and then fly them to Iran, where Rojovsky said they faced likely execution. “The plot was that they were gonna kidnap this dissident, put them on a boat to Venezuela, and then fly them to Iran likely for execution,” he said.
Rojovsky said that after the initial disruption the conspirators returned and enlisted organized-crime members; he described one suspect arriving at the dissident’s home with an AK-47 in the trunk and said the FBI arrested him. The assistant director framed the case as an example of transnational repression, where foreign governments target critics or dissidents on U.S. soil for harassment, kidnapping or worse.
He said the FBI made the plot public and underscored that the agency works to protect dissidents and defend freedom of speech in the United States.
