TEHRAN -- A high-ranking Iranian Judiciary official says the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has confiscated a tanker ship carrying over 300,000 liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf waters and arrested all crew members.
Mojtaba Qahremani, head of the Justice Department of Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan, said on Thursday that forces from the IRGC Navy’s Zolfaqar flotilla seized the vessel carrying 330,000 liters of fuel in the Persian Gulf, as part of operations to detect and fight against organized smuggling.
The IRGC forces also arrested 12 smugglers, he added. He noted that the case is under investigation.
The official said the Hormozgan Justice Department will firmly continue its fight against fuel smuggling and will not hesitate to defend the Iranian nation’s interests.
Forces from the first naval zone of the IRGC late in October seized a foreign tanker ship carrying 11 million liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has vowed that the Persian Gulf would never be a safe place for smugglers. The IRGC’s Navy has also foiled several attacks on Iranian and foreign tankers alike.