Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.24/ Trend G. Mehdi/
Some seven trillion rials (about $570 million) worth of goods have been smuggled in and out of Iran during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 20, the Etemad Persian language daily quoted the Iranian Customs Administration head Abbas Memarnejad as saying.
"Around 12,000 cases of smuggling have been registered at customs nationwide," he noted.
The smuggling is not confined to fuel, he said, adding that it also includes home appliances and foreign currency.
The irregular importation of some unnecessary goods has damaged the national economy, Anti-Drug Headquarters Secretary General Fada-Hossein Maleki said.
"Imports have increased by 12 per cent in weight, but declined by 16 per cent in value. This issue shows that unnecessary goods have been imported in a large scale," he added.
On October 5, MP Alireza Monadi-Sepidan told the Fars News Agency that imports should be regulated and illegal imports of up to $30 billion which have dented domestic production should be curbed.
According to the General Inspection Organisation's director Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the smuggled goods into the country amounted to around $20 billion in the Iranian year which ended in March 2011. This figure declined by $6 billion in the year to March 2012.