Interior Ministry foils petroleum products smuggling operation

The Financial Crimes Department and the Maritime Ports Investigations Department of the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the General Administration of Customs, dismantled an organized gang involved in smuggling petroleum products out of the country.

According to reports, the Customs authorities detected a suspicious cargo — 10 containers, falsely declared as iron, prepared for export under two commercial customs declarations. Upon inspection, the containers were found to contain large quantities of petroleum products.

Investigations revealed that the shipments belonged four people – the main accused, his partner, who worked with two others. The group had been collecting petroleum products in the Kabad area, storing them in what the ministry called ‘flexible containers and tanks’ before preparing them for export. Customs documents were falsified to disguise the real contents.

Security forces raided a factory in Kabad used to prepare containers and store petroleum products, and took into custody three people. During questioning, they confessed that the operation had been ongoing for about eight months, with an average of two shipments per month. Another individual was identified as facilitating the clearance of shipments through customs channels.

Authorities also discovered that the agricultural land in Kabad used for storing the smuggled materials was leased from a fugitive who is outside the country, who had divided the property and illegally rented it to companies for industrial use, ignoring its designated agricultural purpose.

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