Ebrahim Dorosti, deputy head of Tehran Chamber of Guilds said on Monday that 75% of the cell phones in the market were smuggled into the country. He criticized the tariff imposed on cell phones as high, urging the government to remove them. Currently, the import tariff for cell phones stands at 6%. Dorosti said high tariffs would only lead to an increase in the smuggling of cell phones.
Habibollah Haqiqi, head of the office for campaign against smuggling of goods and foreign currency, earlier in the week said smugglers imported $17 billion of goods last year (ended March 2015). The Customs and Excise Department says that every $1 billion in smuggled goods cost Iran 50,000 60,000 jobs.
