IRNA: 9 Individuals Arrested for Nighttime Shootings in Mahshahr

IRNA news agency reported the arrest of 9 individuals involved in "nighttime shootings" in the port city of Mahshahr and Imam Khomeini Port in recent days. According to a report on Tuesday, July 2, an informed source who requested anonymity provided this information to the media. According to him, the arrest of these 9 individuals occurred after they caused "fear and terror" among the people with their "repeated shootings" throughout the city. The source stated that "the weapons of these individuals were also discovered and confiscated." As this informed source mentioned, law enforcement officers arrested these individuals "in the act of committing a crime," and several of them were also apprehended "during a chase along with their weapons and ammunition." On December 26 of last year, the governor of Mahshahr had also reported the arrest of 14 individuals in connection with shootings in the Mahshahr County. Mansour Qamar stated that security, law enforcement, Basij, and judicial officials in Mahshahr had approved a resolution to "seriously deal with individuals who shoot with weapons in the county, in addition to confiscating their weapons." However, it seems that the responses to these individuals have not been satisfactory, as the Friday prayer leader of Mahshahr recently called for a "more serious" response to these individuals. Abdolhossein Ghabishavi stated in his Friday prayer sermon on July 9 that "the judicial response to the perpetrators of planned nighttime shootings in Khuzestan province has not been satisfactory so far, and it is expected that a more serious response will be taken against these individuals." He urged provincial officials not to be "negligent" in dealing with the perpetrators of nighttime shootings and to identify and arrest the criminals, considering the importance of "people's security." The Friday prayer leader of Mahshahr described the perpetrators of these shootings as "a group of adversaries and mercenaries" who are "financially supported" by individuals whose identities were not mentioned.