IRGC’s intel forces dismantle subsidized fuel smuggling network

In a statement issued on Thursday, the IRGC’s division in Iran’s central Markazi Province said one of the largest “organized networks” of subsidized fuel smugglers had been intercepted and busted following an “accurate and professional intelligence operation.”

The network, which was active in eight provinces, acted to smuggle “over 200 million liters of petrochemical products” under the guise of petrochemical byproducts meant for export by “exploiting official documents,” it said.

The statement added that the major destinations of the smuggled fuel had been countries on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

After being taken into custody, members of the network were handed over to judicial officials for legal proceedings related to economic corruption, it said.

In a similar operation, the IRGC said in mid-April that it had confiscated a vessel carrying 250,000 liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf, the second such seizure in less than a week.