From 18 Symbols of 'Satanism' to a $100,000 Kidnapping

Numbers sometimes carry astonishing realities. Radio Farda looks at the statistics that have recently been circulating in Iran: $100,000 Kidnapping: On May 11, a 13-year-old boy was kidnapped by three abductors while waiting for his school bus. The kidnappers demanded $100,000 from his family in a phone call after the abduction. The Tehran police successfully rescued the child. 1,000 Trailers of Smuggled Cigarettes: On May 11, Ali Akbar Seyyari, Deputy Minister of Health, severely criticized the authorities combating smuggling, questioning how it is possible for 1,000 trailers of cigarettes to enter the country and be distributed without anyone noticing. 700 Artistic Works on Billboards in Tehran: On May 6, the newspaper Etemad reported on the 'public reaction to the installation of artistic images on the billboards of the capital,' stating that 'this project displays more than 700 artistic works, including 500 domestic and 200 foreign works on 1,600 billboards and advertising spaces in Tehran.' Radio Farda also published a video report on this matter. 8,664 Cases of Child Abuse: On May 13, the country's social emergency center announced the statistics of reported child abuse and suicide cases to this center in the past year. In 1393 (Iranian calendar), out of 148,000 phone calls made to the 123 center last year, 8,664 calls were related to child abuse. Existence of 18 'Satanism' Symbols in Mashhad: On May 11, the head of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Commission of the Islamic Council of Mashhad reported the existence of 18 symbols of Satanism in Koush Sangi Park in Mashhad. Arrest of a 300 Billion Toman Embezzlement Suspect: On May 13, the suspect of a 300 billion Toman embezzlement from a bank in Qorveh was arrested by the Kurdistan province's intelligence department and sent to prison. It was added that the suspect, through fraudulent actions and withdrawals from the temporary creditors' account, traveled to some European, American, and Asian countries after embezzling 300 billion rials with forged documents. 75,000 Quranic Activists in Law Enforcement: On May 11, Abou Torab Bahrami, the ideological-political chief of the police, stated that over 75,000 people are active in the fields of memorizing, reciting, and interpreting the Holy Quran within the police force. He added that according to the words of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, 'we should have 10 million Quran memorizers in the country; the police have initiated several significant projects in the ideological-political field since last year, including the Quranic movement.' Seizure of 850 Luxury Cars: Etemad reported on May 13 that the traffic police of the law enforcement seized '850 luxury cars' in Tehran within a week. According to this newspaper, Timour Hosseini, the head of the traffic police in the capital, announced in a press conference on May 11 that 1,700 vehicles were seized during a week of 'night operations against violating vehicles in Tehran,' stating that 'the reason for the seizure of these vehicles was traffic violations, speeding, dangerous driving, and cruising.' In this context, from 5 million wealthy Iranians to 60 surgeries on acid attack victims, allocation of 25,000 insurance quotas for construction workers to parliament members, from 12 million 'food insecure' to sending 10,000 garbage collectors to Karbala.