An aerial view shows multi-storey buildings under construction in Tbilisi, Georgia, November 3, 2022. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze

Georgia’s security agency said Monday that it recently thwarted an Iranian-orchestrated plot to assassinate an Israeli citizen in the country.

According to an official statement by the state security service of Georgia, a Pakistani citizen was ordered by an Iranian operative working outside Georgia to kill an Israeli citizen. Following an investigate operation, Georgian authorities tracked and arrested the Pakistani suspect planning the attack.

The security agency did not provide details about the exact number of suspects, the identities of the attacker or targeted victim, or the city in which the alleged hit was planned. According to an Israeli security official cited by Israel’s Kan broadcaster, a Pakistani team affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and led by an arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force, attempted to target Israeli businessman Itsik Moshe in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

A spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the investigation when contacted by The Algemeiner.

Moshe, who resides in Tbilisi has in the past served as a Jewish Agency representative in Russia and is the founder of Israeli House, which seeks to use public diplomacy to improve Israel’s image in Eastern Europe.

Israel’s Ambassador to Georgia Hadas Meitzad thanked the state security service for their “determined and professional efforts to ensure the safely and security of the Israeli citizen.”

“Yet again we are witnessing how Iran continues in its malign activities and it’s terror acts attempts not only in the Middle east, but all over the world, now here in peaceful Georgia,” stated Meitzad. “We are truly appreciative of the decisive work of the local authorities here.”

According to the report by the state security service of Georgia, additional arrests of people with dual Iranian-Georgian citizenship were made for their alleged involvement in passing on weapons to the suspect,

The local investigation revealed that the Pakistani citizen received instructions and information about the Israeli target before arriving in Georgia through a third country. Once in Georgia, the alleged assailant was put up in a rented apartment and was given funds to secretly surveil the Israeli target, while getting instructions from the Iranian source, who ordered the assassination.

Furthermore, the Pakistani suspect received weapons, firearms and ammunition, which were placed in hideouts by a group of Georgians with Iranian citizenship. As a result of the investigative operation, Georgian security forces conducted searches and seized firearms and ammunition, as well as phones, which contained information detailing preparation of the attempted murder, the location of hiding places and other evidence.