Telecommunications devices account for up to 12% of all the goods smuggled into Iran, says the head of Tehran’s Telecoms Guild, adding that the smuggling of cellphones alone stands at $2 billion annually.
“Smuggling of telecommunications devices goes far beyond cellphones to include other pieces of equipment such as capacitors and transistors,” IRNA also quoted Gholamhossein Karimi Khorasani as saying.
The Anti-Smuggling Organization puts cellphone sales in the Iranian market at 12 million devices a year, of which as few as 2 million are imported legally.
Gold, clothes, cellphones, furniture and cigarettes top the list of smugglers’ favorite commodities brought into the country.
Last month, the Anti-Smuggling Organization announced it is planning to launch a department tasked with combating smuggling in cyberspace in cooperation with the Ministry of Intelligence and Iran’s Cyber Police.
About $15.5 billion worth of goods were smuggled into and out of Iran in the last fiscal year (March 2015-16), registering a 27.7% decrease compared to the previous year.
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