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Iran seizes 1 million alcohol bottles in
border province with Iraqi Kurdistan
17.9.2007
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September 17, 2007
TEHRAN,-- Iran has seized 1 million bottles
of alcohol and arrested hundreds of smugglers in a
border province, over the past five months, as part
of a campaign against immorality, the Fars news
agency said Sunday.
The seizures and arrests came in West Kurdish
Azarbaijan province, which borders Iraqi Kurdistan
autonomous region, one of the main sources of
alcohol being illegally smuggled into the Islamic
republic. Iraqi Kurdistan is a secular region, there
is no prohibition of alcohol sales.
"As part of the campaign, 53 groups of alcohol
traffickers have been dismantled, 943,000 bottles of
alcohol seized, and 435 people arrested," the
regional police chief Kheybar Tiba was quoted as
saying.
He added that this represented a rise of 25 percent
compared with the same period, a year earlier.
The drive against alcohol smuggling is part of a
nationwide campaign dubbed the drive to "increase
security in society," which, since April, has
clamped down on un-Islamic dressing, thugs, and
other behavior deemed antisocial.
Only recognized Christian minorities in Iran, such
as the Armenians, are allowed to produce and consume
alcohol, discreetly and behind closed doors, so as
not to offend Islamic sensibilities. |
Smugglers on Iraqi Kurdistan-Iran border |
Production, sale, or consumption of alcohol are,
theoretically, punishable by jail, although this has
not stopped significant smuggling from neighboring
countries, including Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well
as Iraq, and the consumption of sometimes-lethal
homemade liquor.
Police make regular seizures of illicit alcohol, and
officials have said police seized 4 million bottles,
nationwide, in the 12 months to April.
AFP
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