TEHRAN- A tanker smuggling over one million liters of fuel was seized by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) navy forces near the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, an IRGC commander said on Monday.

Brigadier General Ali Azmaei, the commander of the 5th region of the IRGC navy, said that a sum of 16 crews, who were all Malaysian nationals, were arrested in the IRGC operation in Abu Musa Island waters in the Persian Gulf.

“A total quantity of 1,312,000 liters of fuel has been confiscated from the seized tanker,” the commander added.

He further said that the IRGC navy has thus far seized six smuggling vessels.

In October, Police Chief of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan Brigadier General Mohammad Qanbari said that the lucrative crime of fuel smuggling out of Iran was being seriously fought, adding that his forces confiscated nearly 7.8 million liters of smuggled fuel since the start of the local calendar year on March 21, 2019.

Brigadier General Qanbari said that through extensive operations carried out by police forces 7,796,792 liters of smuggled fuel had been seized in the province during the first 7 months of the current Iranian year (March 21- October 22), and it shows an increase compared to the corresponding period in last year.

3.9 million liters of diesel, 1.1 million liters of oil, 835,000 liters of gasoline, and 1.9 million liters of other types of fuel had been seized during the operations in addition to the dismantling of 104 fuel smuggling bands, he added.

149 fuel depots and 241 tank-trucks were confiscated, he said at the time.

As reported in early June, Iran launched a border market to sell diesel fuel to buyers in Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter smuggling of fuel at border areas.

MJ/PA