TEHRAN – On Monday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized a foreign vessel carrying 11 million liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf.

The smuggled consignment is estimated to be worth 2.2 trillion rials (about $7.5m), IRIB reported.

In addition to being sentenced to prison, smugglers will be fined up to 10 times the value of the smuggled fuel.The vessel and its smuggled consignment were seized after a month-long of technical and intelligence surveillance.

The captain and crew of the vessel are also in custody to complete the investigation process and legal procedures.

In addition to being sentenced to prison, smugglers will be fined up to 10 times the value of the smuggled fuel, and the vessel involved in smuggling will also be seized for the benefit of the government.

Jalal Amini, head of the anti-trafficking police, said in July that in order to help domestic production, the fight against smuggling is underway continuously through monitoring of goods (origin and destination), implementation of plans, periodic and intermittent inspections of roads, etc. are on the agenda by the anti-trafficking police throughout the country.

Every year, $20-25 billion worth of goods are smuggled in and out of the country, which, if stopped, will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, MP Hassan Norouzi has said.

Mohammad Hassan Nejad, a member of the Majlis (the Iranian parliament) energy committee, says the smuggled fuel amounts to 22 million liters per day. With a 50 cent per liter profit, the total daily income adds up to 400 trillion rials annually or $3.3 billion, nearly the same as the country's annual development budget.

In June 2020, the first phase of the national anti-smuggling plan was implemented with the priority of customs, tobacco, and transit goods nationwide.

MG