Tehran, Iran, July 22
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
The Iranian ambassador to Turkmenistan said Ashgabat has so far confiscated 200 Iranian trucks under small charges, like carrying cigarettes.
“Unfortunately, six Iranian nationals were recently put behind the bars in Turkmenistan on charges of carrying cigarettes and painkillers,” Seyed Mohammad Ahmadi said on July 22, according to IRNA news agency.
He added that the new arrests came after a recent prisoner swap deal eased friction between the two countries.
The envoy noted that 90 percent of Iranian prisoners in Turkmen jails are transit drivers.
"One of the drivers has been sentenced to 6 years in jail for carrying 4 packets of cigarettes,” he said.
“Up to this moment, 200 Iranian trucks and their loads have been confiscated by the Turkmen government,” Ahmadi further said.
Confiscation of Iranian trucks is not new. In 2009, the Turkmen ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry after 76 Iranian trucks were seized in Turkmenistan. But this seems to have done little to prevent auctioning of Iranian trucks indiscriminately “on charges of containing contraband or drugs.”
Iranian officials have repeatedly pointed to Tehran-Ashgabat age-old ties, noting that visitors and merchants must respect the laws of the host nation, but the punishment for innocuous offenses such as possession of certain pharmaceutical drugs is harsh and beyond understanding.
