Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.4/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Smuggling of cell phones into Iran due to high customs charges, an increase in the dollar's value, and high profits, has become rampant ISNA quoted Ebrahim Dorosti, the head of the union of Iranian audio and visual products sellers as saying.
Smuggled cell phones account for a large share of total imports, he said, adding that Iran has not been successful in producing cell phones due to a lack of modern technology. Today, the cell phone has become a necessary good for Iranian families - three out of five members of an average family have their own cell phones.
On October 24, Iranian Customs Administration Director Abbas Memarnejad said that smuggling worth some 7 trillion rials (about $570 million) was been registered in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year, beginning on March 20.
Around 12,000 cases of smuggling have been registered at customs nationwide, he added.
The smuggling is not confined to cell phones, he said, adding that it also includes fuel, home appliance and foreign currency.
Last year, Memarnejad announced that 20 million cell phones should be supplied annually to the domestic market via import, however, smuggled cell phones accounted for over 95 percent of cell phones on the market in the Iranian year 1389, which ended in March 2011.
The irregular importation of some unnecessary goods has damaged the national economy, Anti-Drug Headquarters Secretary General Fada-Hossein Maleki said.
"Imports have increased by 12 percent in weight but declined by 16 percent in value. This issue shows that unnecessary goods have been imported in large scale," he noted.
On October 5, MP Alireza Monadi-Sepidan told the Fars News Agency that imports should be regulated and illegal imports of up to $30 billion, which have dented the domestic production, should be curbed.
According to General Inspection Organization's director Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the smuggled goods into the country amounted to around $20 billion in the Iranian year which ended in March 2011. The figure declined by $6 billion in the year to March 2012.