Saeed Zaghari, spokesperson for the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency, stated in an interview with the media that fuel smuggling has decreased to 4 to 8 million liters daily and emphasized the importance of changing the headquarters' approach from "hardware confrontation" to "predictive and smart management."
Statistics on Fuel Smuggling and Economic Damages
He pointed out that according to existing statistics, the volume of fuel smuggling in the year 1402 reaches about 21 million liters daily and 8 billion dollars annually, which constitutes about one-third of the dollar volume of smuggling in the country. This smuggling occurred through various stages such as extraction, transportation, production at refineries, storage, distribution, and consumption.
Zaghari added: "With the implementation of the 24-article directive for the prevention and confrontation of fuel smuggling, which was approved by the Cabinet in Mehr 1404, fuel smuggling has decreased to 4 to 8 million liters daily and has reached zero. This success has been achieved through the implementation of the emergency card management plan in border and domestic provinces."
Impacts of the New Approach on the Fuel Market
He also reported a daily saving of about four million liters of fuel in border and domestic provinces and said: "In Kerman province, where we previously witnessed long queues for fuel, there is now a noticeable satisfaction rate of 80 to 88 percent among the people." The spokesperson also referred to the price difference of fuel supply in the country compared to neighboring countries and stated: "Diesel is offered to people in our country at 300 tomans per liter, while in the depths of Pakistan, it can reach up to 280 thousand tomans. This price difference is one of the main reasons for the inclination towards fuel smuggling."
Zaghari emphasized that realigning fuel prices is not the only solution, and consumption modeling among the people must be improved.
Predictive and Smart Management
The spokesperson for the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency further referred to the headquarters' actions in the area of smartening the fight against smuggling and said: "According to the law on combating smuggling of goods, the establishment of smart systems in all organizations and ministries involved in import, export, and circulation of goods has been put on the agenda, and all these networks have been integrated into a single system."
He added: "The smart monitoring and combating system for smuggling has started its work for several months, and with its use, we can move from reactive management to predictive management."
Conclusion and People-Centered Approach
Zaghari concluded by emphasizing the importance of national determination and public cooperation in the fight against smuggling, stating: "The most important requirements for combating smuggling are national determination and public cooperation. Wherever the people have come forward in the past 47 years, progress has been made." He also mentioned the cooperation of the media and civil institutions as effective factors in promoting the culture of combating smuggling and stated that purchasing any smuggled goods is a blow to domestic producers.
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