Iran seizes foreign tanker over smuggling of fuel in Gulf of Oman

Tehran, July 16 (IANS) Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman for carrying about two million litres of smuggled fuel and detained the crew, Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported on Wednesday.

Iranian law enforcement officers confiscated the oil tanker after it failed to provide the necessary legal documents during inspections, the report quoted Chief Justice of Iran's southern Hormozgan province, Mojtaba Qahremani as saying, without specifying the date of the seizure or the nationality of the vessel and its crew members, Xinhua news agency reported.

Qahremani said a case was filed, adding the vessel's captain and 16 other crew members were under detention.

In a similar case, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said on June 1 that its forces had dismantled 35 "professional and organised" fuel smuggling networks in three provinces.

After implementing a series of intelligence and operational measures, the ministry's forces successfully infiltrated networks involved in large-scale fuel smuggling from Iran to international dealers. The ministry said on its website that key members of the networks were arrested following the necessary judicial procedures.

It added that the arrests were made in the provinces of Hormozgan, Tehran, and Alborz, stressing that the value of the networks' activities stood at 1.82 billion US dollars.

The ministry stated that the authorities also blocked bank accounts of over 700 individuals who were linked to the arrested, noting these people had been involved in large-scale money laundering for the networks over the past few years.

Earlier, on April 22, the Navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly seized two foreign vessels carrying 1.5 million litres of smuggled fuel.

Iran's subsidised fuel prices have made smuggling fuel out of the Middle Eastern country a lucrative business. In the past few years, Iranian naval forces have seized several ships laden with smuggled fuel.

--IANS

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