High-tech road cameras are being installed in Iran’s main transit routes for recording the weight of commercial vehicles to fight smuggling, says the Anti-Smuggling Organization’s Spokesman Qasem Khorshidi.
“The cameras are being installed every 20 kilometers and using the information derived from sensors planted below the road surface (weight-in-motion devices) we can tell whether the vehicles have loaded or unloaded commodities along the way,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official believes the system can help eliminate smuggling via commercial vehicles.
According to another official with the Anti-Smuggling Organization Abdolmajid Negaresh-Nejad, every $1 billion worth of contraband smuggled into the country destroy 100,000 jobs.
Iranian authorities have recently stepped up efforts to curb smuggling. The Anti-Smuggling Organization said the estimated value of goods smuggled in and out of the country in the last fiscal year (March 2015-16) stood at $15.5 billion, 27.7% less compared with the preceding year.
Of the total, $14.5 billion worth of goods were smuggled into the country and $1 billion were smuggled out. Apparel, foodstuff, mobile phones, gold ingots and household appliances top the list of incoming contraband, accounting for 41% of the illegal goods.
Fuel is the main item smuggled out of Iran due to its cheap prices compared to those of neighboring states like Turkey and Pakistan.
According to the Anti-Smuggling Organization, per capita consumption of contraband in Iran stood at $197 last year. Contraband comprises 83% of the mobile phone market, 47% of toy market, 27% of the apparel market and 21% of the household appliances market.
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