TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi announced that his forces have captured an infamous terrorist ringleader in the Southeastern parts of the country.

"A person named Abu Hafas had entered the country a while ago to create terrorist groups in the country but he was captured, thanks to the efforts made by the intelligence and security forces in Iranshahr region (Sistan and Balouchestan province)," Alavi said in Tehran on Sunday.

He also revealed that several terrorist groups have so far been sent to Iran by the enemies to carry out terrorist and sabotage operations in the country, but his forces have discovered and defused their plots.

In relevant remarks on Friday, Alavi also announced that the country's security and intelligence forces had arrested members of several terrorist cells affiliated to the ISIL.

"Several cells and teams affiliated to the ISIL have been traced and found one after another; all their equipment have been seized and their members have also been arrested," Alavi said, addressing worshipers before the Friday Prayers sermon in Tehran.

"You see that desipte all the assistance that they (the terrorist groups) receive from the enemy (spy) services to create insecurity in part of Iran, they have failed," he added.

Also last week, Alavi underlined that the country's armed and security forces are capable of safeguarding tranquility and security of people, and said the enemies are not able to damage Iran.

"The goal of security, military and law enforcement bodies is establishing security, tranquility and unity among the Iranian nation," Alavi said, addressing people in the Northwestern city of Jolfa.

"Thanks God and due to the round-the-clock efforts of the Iranian security and intelligence forces, the enemies have not been able to make the slightest attempts against the country," he added.

Also earlier this month, Alavi said the country's security forces thwart anti-security threats several times a month.

"There is no single week that an anti-security operation is not discovered and defused in the country," Alavi said in Alborz province near Tehran.

He referred to the capture of the assassins of teachers in the Southeastern parts of Iran and discovering and foiling several bombing plots in Mashhad, Zahedan and Shiraz cities, and warned that these acts are the products of the western states' plots to create insecurity in the country and weaken the Iranian negotiators' position in the nuclear talks with the world powers.

His comments came after the Law Enforcement Police forces in Iran killed the ringleader of Ansar al-Forqan and two other members of the terrorist group in the Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan in April.

The terrorist group’s leader, Hesham Azizi, and two other members named Sadeq Balouchzehi and Moslem Balouchzehi were killed during a cross-fire with the Iranian security forces in Qasr-e Qand district in Sistan region of the Southeastern province.

The Iranian police forces also arrested several other members of the terrorist group during their operations.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force's Quds base had last month informed in a statement that it had "disbanded a terrorist group affiliated to the foreign spy agencies in Qasr-e Qand and Nikshahr regions in Southeastern Iran, and killed all its members".

The statement added that "the operations were carried out after a series of reconnaissance and chase operations in recent days during which a large cache of weapons, munitions and communication tools were also discovered and seized by the IRGC forces".

The IRGC added that the members of the group intended to carry out suicide attacks in Sistan and Balouchestan province.

Also in January, the Iranian police said that its forces had disbanded a terrorist network in Sistan and Balouchestan province.

"After a number of sabotage operations in the Southern part of Sistan and Balouchestan province, 18 members of a terrorist grouplet were arrested in Eastern Iran as a result of three months of round-the-clock efforts by the police forces and the good cooperation of the people in the province," Commander of the Law Enforcement Police in Sistan and Balouchestan Hossein Rahimi told reporters.

Elaborating on the police operations which led to the capture of the terrorists, he said at first two members of the terrorist group were apprehended and their confessions led to the capture of the other members of the group.

"They confessed that they had conducted different operations against the people and the police and received money from a person an Arab state," Rahimi said.

In earlier remarks in November, Rahimi announced that his forces had arrested the terrorists who had killed two police officers in Zahedan city a year ago.

"The crime investigation detectives of the police found some clues about the involvement of a 6-stong gang of armed thieves in this case after months of extensive specialized measures and after gaining enough intelligence," he said.

Noting that the members of the gang used forged documents to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the commander said that the police forces identified the culprits and arrested them in several coordinated operations in Zahedan and Chabahar cities.

Rahimi said that the gang members had confessed that they had killed the two police officers in Zahedan city on 17 June 2013, wounded two people one month earlier, murdered two individuals in Zahedan's Park Mellat, robbed the passengers of a car and wounded three people when they sprayed bullet at the people who had approached the car.

Sistan and Balouchestan province which is adjacent to Pakistan has been the scene of a number of terrorist attacks in recent years with most terrorists escaping to the Pakistani territories.

By Fars News Agency