TEHRAN (AFP) Iran arrested a top militant on a flight from Dubai only 24 hours after he was at a US military base in Afghanistan, in what it hailed Tuesday as a 'defeat for its Western arch-foes. A senior US official termed Iranian allegations totally bogus. The claim came from Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, who said the militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi had even been issued an Afghan passport by the 'Americans, travelled to Europe, and met with a Nato military chief. Rigi, Irans most-wanted fugitive and head of the shadowy rebel group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) who is accused of launching deadly attacks from Pakistan, had been tracked by Iranian agents for five months before his arrest. The capture was 'a great defeat for the US and UK, the Minister said at a media conference reported by Iranian state media, accusing the United States and Britain of involvement in 'continuous plots in the region. He was arrested on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, Moslehi said. It is such a scandal for Dubai in this incident which shows that the Zionist regime (Israel), by using (the) US and Europe, is seeking to turn the region into a haven for terrorists. This scandal cannot be covered up, said Moslehi, who held up pictures of Rigi he said were taken inside a US military base in Afghanistan by Iranian agents, and of his identity card. Interior Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar gave only sketchy details about Rigis arrest in an apparently covert operation, saying the militant was caught 'outside Iran and then moved to the Islamic republic. But Moslehi said Rigi, believed to be in 30s, was caught in an operation carried out entirely by Iranian agents. He was arrested without the slightest help of intelligence services of other countries, including those from the region, Moslehi said. Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Dehghan said Rigi was arrested in Persian Gulf waters while he was travelling on a plane via Pakistan to an Arab country. His plane was ordered to land, and then he was arrested after the plane was searched, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying without elaborating. The intelligence ministry said in a Fars news agency report that he was arrested along with two members of his group. Meanwhile This is of course a totally bogus accusation, a senior US official told AFP when asked whether Rigi had been to an American base in Afghanistan, where the Iranians allege he was issued with an Afghan passport.