TEHRAN - The commander of the border guards in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan announced on Tuesday the seizure of a ship smuggling 550,000 liters of fuel.

Colonel Hossein Dahki said in a press statement that “during an operation in the protection area, the border guards at the Bandar Langeh Naval Base, in cooperation with the border guards in Bushehr Province, succeeded in spotting a ship carrying smuggled fuel to be transported to the east of Maru Island.”

“During the inspection of the ship, the border guards were able to find 550,000 liters of smuggled diesel, and arrested 7 smugglers in this regard,” he stated, adding plans are underway to combat smuggling of fuel and goods, clean up polluted and criminal areas, and fight smugglers across the border strip in the southern coastal province. 

In April, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said it had detained a number of vessels in the southeast and south of Iran smuggling fuel.

The commander of the IRGC Navy’s Imam Ali Base in Chabahar said his forces had seized three hauls of smuggled fuel that amounted to 150,000 liters, Tasnim reported. 

Captain Mohammad Nozari said the vessels were planned to smuggle the fuel into a neighboring country, adding all people involved in the act, including Iranian and foreign nationals, have been arrested.

Meanwhile, Colonel Gholamhossein Hosseini, head of the media office of the Second Field of the IRGC Navy, told Fars News that the IRGC forces have seized a foreign vessel carrying 200,000 liters of contraband fuel in the north of the Persian Gulf.

The colonel said eight crew members of the vessel were handed over to judicial officials in Bushehr. 

“The fight against smuggling, especially fuel smuggling, is one of the important priorities of the IRGC Navy which is being pursued in order to support national production and the dynamism of the country's economy,” he stated.

Colonel Hosseini warned that the waters of the Persian Gulf will not be secure for smugglers.