Iranian police have confiscated 120 containers of contraband carrying toys, glass dishes, auto parts and home appliances worth more than 1,900 billion rials ($54.28 million at market exchange rate) in the southern province of Hormozgan.
Hormozgan Police Chief Azizollah Maleki added that this is the largest such confiscation in about four decades, our sister publication Eghtesad News reported on Tuesday
According to Iran’s Central Taskforce to Combat the Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency, the estimated value of goods smuggled in and out of the country in the last Iranian year (March 2015-16) stood at $15 billion, indicating a $10 billion decline compared to the years before President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013.
Cigarettes, cellphones, apparel, cosmetics and medicine currently top the list of contraband in the domestic market.
This is while fuel, which used to be the most favored commodity smuggled out of the country due to its cheap prices, no longer features on the list.
The taskforce says 60% of the $10-billion drop in illegal trade are due to efforts to curb fuel smuggling, which stood at below $1 billion last year from $3.8 billion and $7 billion in the two years preceding the incumbency of President Rouhani.
