[guide.chat] news another war
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:24:38 -0000
Iranian smugglers thrive as sanctions tighten
Monday, 19 March 2012
Despite the risks, the smuggling trade to Iran is thriving, delivering many of
the goods prohibited by international sanctions. (File photo)
Dozens of unmarked speedboats pulled into Oman?s Khasab port, breaking the dawn
silence and marking the start of a wet and treacherous work-day for Iranian
smugglers on the Straits of Hormuz.
At least three times a day, the mostly teenage smugglers risk life and limb to
carry banned and highly taxed commercial goods on tiny boats from the Omani
enclave across the narrow waterway to Iran for sale on the black market.
?It?s dangerous but I need the work and the money is good,? said an 18-year-old
Iranian boat driver, who smuggles everything from flat-screen TVs and
microwaves to Indian tea and American soft drinks into Iran.
He had just completed his second trip of the day from the Iranian island of
Qeshem, the main receiving port for the smuggled goods. From there, Iranian
merchants distribute them to the rest of the country.
The smugglers? route crosses one of the world?s most vital shipping lanes,
linking the oil-rich Gulf with the Arabian Sea and beyond, a path crucial to
the world economy as about a fifth of global oil exports pass through it.
It is frequented by U.S. warships and aircraft carriers, Iranian patrol boats,
oil-tankers and cargo ships, all of which the smugglers must avoid.
It is also a cause of heightened tensions between Iran and the West since
Tehran has threatened to block the waterway in response to increased Western
sanctions over its nuclear program.
Despite the risks, the smuggling trade to Iran is thriving, delivering many of
the goods prohibited by international sanctions.
?Business slowed down briefly in January when there were a lot of threats going
back and forth between Iran and the U.S.,? said Zuhair Reza, a 42-year-old
Iranian warehouse manager in Khasab, where illicit goods are stored.
?But now, we?re back to normal... Business is great. Business is booming,? he
said.
The drivers meanwhile, who maneuver the tiny speedboats packed to the hilt with
smuggled commercial goods across the 60-kilometer (40-mile) stretch between
Khasab and Qeshem, say the rewards justify the risks that come with the job.
With each round-trip journey, the smugglers, who travel two per boat, pocket
about $30 dollars each. But the 40-minute dash across the waterway is rife with
danger.
?Sometimes we get shot at by the Iranian patrol boats. Sometimes we get
arrested,? said another smuggler who lost a friend and co-worker last year when
Iranian patrols opened fire on him as he approached Iran's shores.
The weather, however, is their greatest foe.
?We can try to escape from the patrols, or even bribe them if we get caught...
but you can't negotiate with the sea,? said the Iranian, who asked to remain
anonymous.
An Omani customs agent at Khasab?s port said some 500 boats make the journey
across the Straits daily, a practice he says is legal in the Gulf state, but
illegal once the goods cross into Iranian waters.
The agent, who identified himself as Abu Dhahi, said the Omanis inspect and tax
the goods before they are cleared for export.
The electronic goods, cosmetics, clothing, tobacco and soft drinks, among a
wide range of other products which arrive from neighboring Dubai, are then
loaded onto the speedboats.
As he described the day-to-day operations of the smugglers, young Iranian men
loaded boxes of mobile phones, perfumes and hair-removal cream onto waiting
speedboats, wrapped them tightly with grey tarpaulin and secured them with rope
in preparation for the bumpy ride ahead.
Abu Dhahi said the smugglers are banned from carrying weapons, and all cargo
entering and leaving the port is ?carefully inspected.?
?No weapons, alcohol or drugs are allowed through this port,? he said adding
that the smugglers do not pose a security threat to the already tense shipping
lane.
?These are just young boys trying to make a living,? he said. ?And as far as we
are concerned in Oman, there?s nothing illegal going on here.?
As dusk set in, the last of the tourist boats dropped off sun-burned tourists,
while the local fisherman loaded dead sharks into waiting trucks heading for
Dubai?s fish market.
Just a few hundred meters (yards) away, the engines of the speedboats roared,
and after lining up together as if for a race, the smugglers sped off towards
Iran on their last journey of the day.
?By morning I?ll be back,? said the 18-year-old smuggler. ?I?m working seven
days a week. I?m saving to get married. Maybe by next year I?ll have enough.?
from
Vanessa The Google Girl.
my skype name is rainbowstar123
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