State Security Service: Deeply Conspiratorial Spy Network with Former MNS Staff Revealed

Baku / 27.12.18 / Turan: A deeply secreted espionage network operating in the intelligence system of Azerbaijan has been revealed. Former employees of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) have been arrested on charges of espionage, the public relations department of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan reports.

The press release notes that as a result of the operative-investigative actions carried out by the State Security Service, the intelligence network of a foreign secret service, which for several years led a multistage espionage activity in Azerbaijan, was discovered and neutralized.

The agents of this network, in order to attract the employees of the Azerbaijani special services to individual cooperation, organized secret meetings in the territory of neighboring countries and created communication channels.

The State Security Service has identified the personalities acting under pseudonyms used for intelligence work by the real employees of foreign special services. The citizens of Azerbaijan associated with this activity are prosecuted for espionage.

"In particular, it was established that Zakir Alibala Oglu Ismayilov, born in 1959, who held the position of head of a department in the MNS and other responsible posts, was attracted by secret services to covert cooperation and for material reward committed actions detrimental to the national security and national interests of Azerbaijan," the statement says.

He regularly provided foreign special services with official materials on counterintelligence activities, information about the personnel of state security agencies and other secret information. "Even after his retirement in 2015, Ismayilov, using his previous connections, obtained and transferred abroad information about changes in the security agencies of Azerbaijan, and also offered possible methods of intelligence work against Azerbaijani special services," the report further states.

Ismayilov is prosecuted under Article 274 (high treason) of the Criminal Code, and a preventive measure in the form of arrest has been chosen against him.

The espionage activities of another former MNS employee, Bahruz Yashar Oglu Yusifzadeh, born in 1977, were also exposed. The investigation found that after leaving for the reserve from the security service, he met with employees of a foreign intelligence service abroad. He was recruited and began working for foreign intelligence for financial remuneration. He was instructed to return to service in the state security bodies of Azerbaijan. However, trying to act in this direction, he was exposed. The State Security Service reports on video evidence that Yusifzadeh received funds from a foreign intelligence service. He was also arrested and is prosecuted under article 274 (high treason).

Other individuals involved in these criminal actions are brought to criminal responsibility.

Thus, a deeply conspiratorial spy network was discovered and the possible consequences of receiving information by foreign intelligence agencies were eliminated. Investigative and operational activities in the case continue, the report concludes. However, the State Security Service does not specify the foreign intelligence service, for which the arrested individuals worked.

The Ministry of National Security was abolished after high-profile resignations and arrests in the leadership of this department in October 2015. After the liquidation of the MNS, the State Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service were created. -06D--