Posted on 10/31/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
ISA and Israel Police on Thursday morning announced the arrest of Refael and Lala Goliev, a 32-year-old couple from Lod, after the couple carried out acts of espionage on behalf of Iran.
During their interrogation, it became clear that Refael was enlisted by Alshaan Agayev, a 56-year-old Azeri, who is operating on behalf of Iranian parties.
As part of his activities, Refael tracked security sites in Israel, including the Mossad, and also followed an academic employed by the INSS, who Iran had marked for a physical attack. In addition, he was asked to locate a person who would serve as an assassin for the Iranian operator. Some of the activities were carried out by Rafael with the help of his wife Lala.
The State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against them on Thursday, with the Central District Court in Lod, charging them with operating in behalf of Iran.
The Golievs are charged with severe security crimes, aiding the enemy during wartime, and providing an enemy with information in order to harm State security. According to the ISA, Iran is working to enlist Israelis who hail from the Caucasus region.
According to the indictment, the Golievs have been in contact with two Iranian agents since 2021, and carried out many tasks for them at various times. Among these tasks was that of collecting intelligence for Iran, in order to help Iran in its war against Israel and harm the country's security.
The Golievs collected information by means of stills and video clips of strategic sites and national infrastructure. Among other sites, the couple documented the Mossad headquarters, the Moldavian Cosulate in Tel Aviv, locations near the Glilot compound, the electric company, the Haifa port, a factory in which Rafael worked, public bomb shelters in Tel Aviv, gravesites of October 7 massacre victims, and more. All of this was sent by the Golievs to their operators via Telegram and by means of a unique encryption app intended to prevent their activities from being discovered.