IRGC foils attempt to smuggle Iranian fuel
Iran's IRGC has seized a boat smuggling fuel and arrested 11 foreign crew members.
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Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats
A top judiciary official said Saturday that Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) intercepted a foreign vessel smuggling gasoline in the Gulf of Oman and detained its 11 crew members.
State TV reported that Mojtaba Ghahramani, justice chief for Iran's southern Hormozgan Province, announced that naval forces seized a foreign vessel carrying smuggled fuel in the gulf waters.
Ghahramani detailed that "over 220,000 litres of smuggled fuel were seized and 11 foreign crew members were detained for investigation."
The date of the seizure, as well as the nationalities of the crew, was not specified. The origin of the vessel was also not disclosed.
Additionally, the guards also seized an Iranian boat within Iran's waters carrying 20,000 liters of smuggled diesel to supply the foreign vessel.
There have been a series of boats seized near the gulf, amid a mass fuel shortage.
In November, the IRGC thwarted an American hijacking attempt to steal a cargo of Iranian oil in the Gulf of Oman.
The commander of the Iranian Navy, Shahram Irani, had announced that "Iranian forces responded to an attempt to hijack two Iranian oil tankers on October 16" as well.
