According to Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency, the chief judge of Hormozgan Province said that a foreign tanker had been seized in the Gulf of Oman by Iran for smuggling two million litres of diesel fuel.

According to the report, "During the process of continuously monitoring and surveilling suspect fuel smuggling activities in the Gulf of Oman," officers inspected an foreign tanker because it lacked legal documents about its cargo. They seized the tanker on the charge that it was carrying 2,000,000 litres of fuel smuggled.

A judiciary official confirmed that 17 crew members had been arrested, and that the Jask County Prosecutor's Office has opened a case.

No additional information was provided regarding the name or flag of the tanker.

Iran has the lowest fuel prices in the world due to its heavy subsidies and the fall of its currency. It has also been fighting fuel smuggling on land and at sea, to Gulf Arab countries.

The report stated that "the actions of fuel smugglers who, in coordination with foreigners attempt to plunder the national wealth, will not be hidden from the judiciary, and the punishment of perpetrators will be without leniency, if their crimes have been proven." Ghahremani. Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Jamie Freed

(source: Reuters)