TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Iran says it requested 14 years ago the extradition of Man Haron Monis - the gunman behind the Sydney siege - but Australia refused to hand him over.
The head of Iran's police, Gen Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, told reporters that Monis was wanted for fraud at the time, as reported by BBC News.
He said Monis had fled to Australia via Malaysia in the late 1990s.
Monis and two hostages were shot dead on Tuesday morning, when commandos stormed the Sydney cafe where he had been holding captives for 16 hours.
Gen Moghaddam said Monis was known in Iran as "Manteqi".
"In 1996, he was the manager of a travel agency and committed fraud," the general told reporters. "He then fled to Malaysia and from there, to Australia under a fake name."
He added that "since we did not have an agreement on the extradition of criminals with Australia, the Australian police refused to extradite him".
Monis applied for political asylum to obtain refugee status in Australia, Gen Moghaddam said, describing the incident as "a play".
Meanwhile the Australian government has announced it is investigating why Monis was released on bail on separate charges.
He had a history of religiously inspired activism, but officials say there is as yet no evidence his actions were linked to international Islamist movements.
BBC NEWS
