Japanese captive freed in Iran

A Japanese student abducted last year in Iran has been freed, Tehran's intelligence minister has said.

The 23-year-old was travelling alone in south-eastern Iran when he was kidnapped by an armed group in October.

He had crossed into Iran after travelling in Pakistan and at the time he called the Japanese embassy in Tehran to say he had been captured.

Iran's lawless border regions with Afghanistan and Pakistan are a major smuggling route for drugs.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told the official Irna news agency that the release was the work of Iranian intelligence personnel.

"A Japanese tourist who was kidnapped by drug smugglers and armed bandits in the east of the country... was released," he said

"The main elements behind the kidnapping were arrested and those bandits on the run in Pakistan were forced to release the Japanese citizen."

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