TEHRAN - Iranian police have recently busted a gang of illegal diggers in Alamut, a semi-mountainous region in Qazvin province, west-central Iran. 

Four illegal diggers were detained in this regard and surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation; ISNA quoted provincial tourism chief Alireza Khazaeli as saying on Sunday.  

Better known for being home to a well-fortified ruined castle and its lush cherry gardens, Alamut annually attracts hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers to the castle that once sheltering the followers of Hasan-e Sabbah (1070–1124), a leader of Ismaili sect, known as ‘Assassins’. In the early 1930s, British-Italian explorer and travel writer Freya Stark described her exploration of the place in her book “The Valleys of the Assassins”.

In popular myth, Sabbah led a bizarre, much-feared mercenary organization whose members were dispatched to murder or kidnap leading political and religious figures of the day.

Alamut, which means “eagle’s nest”, is a geographic region in the western edge of the Alborz range, between the dry and barren plain of Qazvin in the south and the densely forested slopes of the Mazandaran province in the north.

Nowadays, the ruined castle, which is also known as Alamut Castle, is a top travel destination in the northeastern side of Gazor Khan Village in the environs of Mo’alem Kalayeh, from the environs of Roudbar of Alamut, Qazvin province.

ABU/AFM