Seven Oil Company Officials and Employees Arrested on Charges of Fuel Smuggling in Kerman

The head of the Kerman Judiciary announced the arrest of seven officials and employees of the oil company in the province, stating that their arrest was related to "fuel smuggling." Ebrahim Hamidi mentioned that investigations into the corruption of several oil company officials, employees, and experts from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, as well as fuel station operators regarding bribery and the smuggling of fuel materials, including diesel, in the districts of Jiroft, Kahnuj, and Rudbar-e Jonub led to the arrests. According to Hamidi, over 700 full gold coins were discovered during searches of the homes of two of the suspects. Hamidi also emphasized that 400 coins were found from another suspect's home and 300 coins from yet another suspect. The head of the Kerman Judiciary stated that one kilogram of melted gold, 50 quarter coins, and half coins were also found in the suspects' homes. Organized fuel smuggling in Iran has always been criticized by experts, as security agencies often overlook fuel smuggling from pipelines while violently cracking down on fuel carriers. In recent months, Pakistani intelligence agencies conducted investigations revealing that last year, "Iranian brokers" smuggled over one billion dollars worth of gasoline and diesel into Pakistan. Some experts believe that such a volume of smuggling is not possible without the cooperation and coordination of security and government entities, as the fuel distribution system in the country, due to the use of fuel cards and imposed restrictions on refueling, practically makes it impossible to obtain excess fuel. Reports from Pakistani intelligence agencies also confirm this issue, mentioning 200 brokers and smugglers and naming government and security officials of the Islamic Republic who benefit from this through bribery. A political analyst in Pakistan stated that the Islamic Republic sometimes starts actions to combat smuggling but suddenly halts them. The Pakistani government has not responded to the "Niki Asia" publication regarding this report, but an official, on condition of anonymity, stated that the report was deliberately leaked to compel the Islamic Republic to address the issue. The presence of Hashd al-Shaabi forces in Iranian universities and concerns about "educational corruption" from the perspective of Ata Houshmand, reasons for using individuals with a history of financial corruption in the Islamic Republic, from the perspective of Saeed Aghanjir, the head of the Kerman Judiciary: 18 people are being pursued in the football corruption case, discovery of corruption in the distribution of 2 million bags of flour outside the government network, a profit of 1200 billion tomans from the livelihoods of the people.