Iranian Truck Carrying Heroin Seized At Azerbaijan Customs

ICBPS- Iranian truck carrying 230 kilograms (approximately 507 pounds) of heroin was seized at the Azerbaijani customs.
According to the Azerbaijani customs’ website, the 230 kilograms of heroin was detected in wrapped pieces, hidden inside the potato shipment.
It is a common way to smuggle drugs, weapons, and other illegal goods by Iranian smugglers, including IRGC forces, under the guise of agricultural shipments, and other vital survival needs.
The shipment was seized by officials at Azerbaijan’s Astara customs after the trained dogs sniffed and detected the heroin.
The driver, who holds Azerbaijan nationality, is in custody, say the reports. The truck was stopped in Azerbaijan en route to Ukraine.
About 200 Iranian citizens are currently being kept at Azerbaijani prisons, most of whom have been arrested on drug-related charges.
Last week, Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan Abbas Mousavi met 30 Iranian citizens, including 12 women, who are held at Baku prisons.
The Azerbaijani president Ilham Heydar Oglu Aliyev pardoned seven Iranians who were jailed in the country on the occasion of the Persian New Year “Nowruz”.

On March 18, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported that the Islamic Republic still continues its destructive activities in the reagion, smuggles weapons to Iraq and Syria under the guise of vegetable shipments.
While Assad-controlled areas in Syria are experiencing catastrophic living conditions and extreme poverty, trade is ongoing between the IRGC side (in Syria) and Tehran-affiliated militias in Iraq. The Islamic Republic, however, continues to strengthen its presence in Syria.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), trucks carrying vegetables, fruits, and other commercial goods go through
legal and illegal crossing borders between Syria and Iraq, especially west of the Euphrates.
Militants affiliated with the Iranian regime are often active in this business route to transport arms shipments to the militias-controlled areas under the guise of vegetable shipments.

Reporting by Sam Cohen in the Middle East; Editing by ICBPS Editorial Board.