Latest news and statistics about crime in Iran. Information about the black market is collected from international organizations, intelligence reports, national security agencies and news articles.
The Government of Iran spends up to $1 Billion a year in anti-narcotics operations such as border patrol and combating drug traffickers.
During the Nowruz New Year Hoidays in March 2013, security officials detained over 1,200 men and 19 women for drug trafficking activities.
Source: ”Iran’s border police cracking down on drug smuggling,” Press TV, April 3, 2013.
In the 8 months from March 2012 to November 2012, security agencies in Iran seized 1,454 kilograms of crystal meth that was being trafficking within the country. The amount seized in 2012 was significantly higher than the 2.3 kilograms seized in the country between March 2005 to March 2006.
Source: “Official Stresses Growing Volume of Crystal Meth Seizure in Iran,” Farns News Agency, March 16, 2013.
An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 children in Tehran, Iran are forced to work as beggars on the street or in sweat shops.
Source: Cesar Chelala, “Afghanistan’s legacy of child opium addiction,” Japan Times, Opinion, March 1, 2013.
The had of the anti-narcotics police in Iran told the news media that over a ton of illegal drugs is seized each day from drug smugglers. 1,286 kilograms of drugs (2,835 pounds) are reportedly seized by police each day.
Around 30 smugglers and drug addicts are identified by police every hour in Iran.
Source: Associated Press “Report: Iran confiscates over a ton of narcotics a day,” Washington Post, January 13, 2013.
According to statistics released by the Iranian Government, nearly 4,000 police officers from Iran has been killed over the past 33 years due to drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan.
Iran shares a 900 kilometer border with Afghanistan. Drug traffickers cross the border and transport opium in order to reach the illegal drugs markets of Europe.
Source: “UN lauds Iran’s effective role in fighting drug trafficking,” Press TV, January 6, 2013.
Migrants from Afghanistan who want to be smuggled into neighboring Iran pay human smugglers $700 to guide them across the border.
There are an estimated 1.4 million Afghanistan migrants working and living in Iran. The migrants send up to $500 Million back home to Afghanistan.
(See more human smuggling fees.)
Source: Amie Ferris-Rotman, “Iran pushes out Afghans as regional power-play heats up,” Reuters, December 2, 2012.
An international human smuggling ring was broken up by Europol in November 2012 that was smuggling people from Iran in to various countries of the European Union. According to a press report, the human smuggling were charging migrants $$23,315 (€18,000) to be transported by car from Iran into Turkey and Greece, where the migrants would then move across the EU.
Source: “Iranian human smuggling ring busted in Europe,” Kuwait News Agency, November 27, 2012.
Between 2010 and November 2012, lawyers with the United States Department of Justice filed 8 cases against individuals and companies who were illegally trading with Iran. Prosecutors also report that more cases are being investigated but have remained sealed from the public due to its ongoing investigation.
The individual traders and companies have been based in Hong Kong and China and are illegally transporting materials in violation of international trade sanctions placed on Iran. According to the Department of Justice, materials sent to Iran include missile guidance systems, radio jammers, and materials that can be used in a nuclear weapons program.
Source: Ken Dilanian, “Illegal exports to Iran on the rise, say U.S. officials,” Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2012.
According to media reports, the age that girls enter prostitution in Iran is reported to be 14. Many young women who enter the prostitution trade are victims of domestic violence, unemployment, poverty and per-arranged marriages.
Prostitution over the Internet is becoming popular in Iran, with 55 percent of the “cyber prostitutes” being between the ages of 16 to 25.
There are also reports that 10 to 12 percent are married women in their twenties.
Source: Parto Parvin and Arash Ahmadi, “Iran sets sights on tackling prostitution,” BBC News, July
The United Nations reported that police and law enforcement agencies in Iran destroyed 166 methamphetamine labs within the country in 2010. In 2008, police dismantled 2 meth labs in the country.
Worldwide, nearly 10,200 laboratories producing methamphetamines were destroyed by law enforcement in 2009.
Source: Associated Press, “South Asia a rising force in global meth trade,” Jakarta Post, May 19, 2012.
