Deterrent Laws Are the Missing Link in Combating Fuel and Goods Smuggling

Birjand – The deputy for political, security and social affairs of the South Khorasan Governor's Office said: Strengthening deterrent laws and raising the cost of violations for smugglers is a serious necessity to prevent these crimes from recurring.

According to Mehr reporter, Hossein Sharafatirad said on Tuesday morning at the meeting of the Commission for Planning, Coordination and Supervision of Combating Goods and Currency Smuggling, appreciating the actions of the law enforcement, security forces and responsible agencies in dealing with fuel and goods smuggling: South Khorasan is one of the important routes for the passage of goods and fuel due to its geographical location and its location on the communication routes from north to south and the eastern provinces of the country.

Political, Security and Social Vice Governor of South Khorasan added: Undoubtedly, monitoring this amount of traffic requires more time, energy and coordination.

Referring to the measures taken in the area of detection and dealing with smugglers, he added: With the intelligence elites and the round-the-clock efforts of the police, security forces and other responsible agencies, effective measures have been taken in this field, which is worthy of praise.

The political, security and social deputy of the South Khorasan Governorate emphasized that the province plays the role of a transit point in many cases and is not the final destination of smuggled goods, and clarified: an important part of the responsibility for dealing with this phenomenon falls on the shoulders of the police forces and security agencies of the province; Therefore, by strengthening the legal and preventive mechanisms, it is necessary to limit the activity of smuggling networks of goods, currency and fuel.

Referring to the implementation of the 50-liter fuel card charging plan of citizens since the beginning of October, Sharafatirad considered this action an effective step in managing consumption and dealing with the abuse of profiteers and said: the implementation of this plan, with the follow-ups, has helped to reduce consumption and limit the opportunity of profiteers.

He stated that the people's satisfaction should be taken into consideration along with decisive action against the violators, and added: Before the implementation of this plan, the formation of long queues at fuel stations and the waiting of citizens for one to two hours led to dissatisfaction.

The political, security and social deputy of the South Khorasan Governorate stated: Therefore, it is necessary to implement control policies in such a way that, while preventing smuggling, the normal process of life and work activities of the people are not disrupted.

Sharafati Rad emphasized: Dealing with gangs and organized networks of fuel and goods smuggling should be done with precision and speed, but dealing with profiteers should not lead to problems for citizens who need timely services to provide livelihood and carry out their daily affairs.

Sharafatirad also pointed to the continuation of the activities of some smugglers despite repeated arrests and said: examples of these violations show that the existing punishments in some cases do not have the necessary deterrence and the profiteers continue their activities; Therefore, it is necessary to review the laws and strengthen enforcement guarantees to deal more effectively with these people.

Referring to the recent fatal incident related to the transportation of smuggled fuel in a bus, he emphasized the necessity of following up the matter by the responsible agencies and added: such incidents show that dealing with smuggling networks is not limited to the discovery of cargoes, but the repetition of similar incidents should also be prevented by strengthening preventive and deterrent measures.

Appreciating the efforts of law enforcement, security forces and other responsible agencies, he demanded written follow-up of proposals and demands related to amending laws and strengthening preventive measures.