Crime in Iran is present in various forms, and may include the following offences: murder, kidnapping, theft, fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, drug dealing, alcohol smuggling, oil smuggling, tax evasion, terrorism , not wearing "proper" hijab, eating and drinking during Ramadan, drinking alcohol , and many other crimes.
Drug trafficking is a major and ongoing issue in Iran. Iran is a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin between Afghanistan and Europe. [1] With 2.8 percent of the population addicted to drugs, Iran has one of the highest rates of drug addiction in the world, rivaling the 10 - 15% in Afghanistan. [2] According to published figures, Iran has so far lost close to 3,500 police and security officers to the anti-drug campaign that annually costs the country almost $1 billion and inflicts an annual damage of about $8.5 billion on Iran's economy. [3] Hundreds of drug smugglers have also been hanged. [4]
It has been estimated by the government of Iran in 2015 that dirty money from drug trafficking in Iran amounts to 10 trillion toumans a year (1 touman equals 10 rials), some of which has been finding its way into "elections and the securing of votes" to influence the country's politics. [5]
The majority of drug users in Iran use opium. Iran produces almost none of its own opium; the opium is brought into the country from neighboring Afghanistan. [6] In 2006, over 53 percent of the opium produced in Afghanistan left the country through Iran. Several measures have been taken by the Iranian authorities to combat drug trafficking. This includes increasing the number of police forces on the southeastern border of Iran and introducing severe laws and penalties for people found guilty of drug trafficking.
Iran has become a leading figure in combating drug trafficking; so far Iranian authorities have made over 85 percent of the world's total opium seizures. Between 2009 and 2010, the amount of illicit drugs seized by Iranian police totalled over 340 tons. [7]
Tax evaders typically are either involved in activities in the gray sector of economy or in the underground market which they do not divulge. Others are engaged in smuggling and the black market.[ citation needed ] The losses are equivalent to 20% to 25% of the country's gross domestic product revenue.[ citation needed ] In 2014, international medias reported Iranian nationals to be listed among the tax evaders in the HSBC scandal in Switzerland.
According to the U.S. Department of State: "Iran is a source, transit, and destination for women trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. Iranian women are trafficked internally for the purpose of forced prostitution and for forced marriages to settle debts. Iranian children are trafficked internally and Afghan children are trafficked to Iran for the purpose of forced marriages, commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude as beggars or laborers. According to non-governmental sources, Iranian women and girls are also trafficked to Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom for commercial sexual exploitation." [8]
Iran began restricting alcohol production and consumption shortly after the Iranian Revolution. Even with this ban, alcohol smuggling is still popular in Iran today. It is reported that over 2.5 million dollars of alcohol is smuggled into Iran every day. [9] Smugglers often have a hard time smuggling alcohol into Iran; border security forces repeatedly clash with smugglers and many die.
Oil smuggling has become more of an issue in Iran. Iranians pay an average price of 25 cents a liter for gasoline while neighboring countries pay more than a dollar per liter which makes oil smuggling a profitable business for smugglers. Every year in Iran, over 1.8 billion liters of refined oil products are smuggled to neighboring countries. These countries include Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey. [10]
In Iran, there have been a number of recorded cases of honor killings that made international headlines. [11] [12] [13]
In May 2021, a London-based filmmaker, 46-year-old Babak Khorramdin was stabbed to death by his 74 year old mother and 81 year old father in the middle of an argument after they found out that their son is still single at this age and that he doesn't want to be married. After the murder, Khorramdin's body was mutilated, chopped into pieces and were put in three separate bags. Furthermore, the same couple had also killed Babak's sister and brother-in-law prior to his death. The parents accused their son of harassment and for making an attempt to ruin their reputation. Furthermore, they stated that they "were proud" and "showed no remorse".
In February 2022 a video circulated in Iran of a man (Sajjad Heydari), in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in Western Iran, smiling and carrying the severed head of his 17 year old wife (Mona Heydari). The IRNA news agency referred to the incident as the result of an "honor killing." The wife had fled to Turkey but was brought back to Iran and killed shortly after. [14] According to human rights lawyer Yonah Diamond, "the Iranian authorities enabled the barbaric beheading of Mona Heydari -- a child bride -- for seeking a divorce from a violently abusive marriage..." [15]
Two years earlier another high-profile "honor killing" involved a 14-year-old who was allegedly killed with a sickle by her father in northern Iran's Talesh County, after she ran away from her family home with a 29-year-old man. [14]
According to the medical journal The Lancet, there were at least 8,000 honor killings in Iran between 2010 and 2014, of which only a few were reported. [16]
Article 630 of the Constitution exempts a husband from punishment if he murders his wife for committing adultery. [16]
Iran International reports that about 60 women have fallen victim to honor killings from 2020 to 2021, according to a women's right NGO in Ahvaz, "including some who were 10 or 15 years old. None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice" and few of the families have even filed a lawsuit. [16]Iran has one of the highest execution rates (second only to China). [17] Adultery and homosexual sex are considered illegal acts under Iranian law and under certain circumstances may carry the death penalty. Punishment for drug use and trafficking can be severe; anyone convicted of having possession of, using or trafficking in illegal drugs can expect long jail sentences, heavy fines and even the death penalty. [18]
The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
Narco-state is a political and economic term applied to countries where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade. The term was first used to describe Bolivia following the 1980 coup of Luis García Meza which was seen to be primarily financed with the help of narcotics traffickers. Other well-known examples are the British Empire, Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Myanmar and Syria, and the USA where drug cartels produce, ship and sell drugs such as captagon, cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
The Golden Crescent is the name given to one of Asia's two principal areas of illicit opium production. Located at the crossroads of Central, South, and West Asia, this space covers the mountainous peripheries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, extending into eastern Iran.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been accused of involvement in the trafficking of illicit drugs. Books and journalistic investigations on the subject that have received general notice include works by the historian Alfred McCoy, professor and diplomat Peter Dale Scott, journalists Gary Webb and Alexander Cockburn, and writer Larry Collins. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Inspector General. The various investigations have generally not led to clear conclusions that the CIA itself has directly conducted drug trafficking operations, although there may have been instances of indirect complicity in the activities of others.
The Golden Triangle is a large, mountainous region of approximately 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos, centered on the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. The name "Golden Triangle" was coined by Marshall Green, a U.S. State Department official, in 1971 in a press conference on the opium trade. Today, the Thai side of the river confluence, Sop Ruak, has become a tourist attraction, with the House of Opium Museum, a Hall of Opium, and a Golden Triangle Park, and no opium cultivation.
Afghanistan has long had a history of opium poppy cultivation and harvest. As of 2021, Afghanistan's harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply. More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. The country has been the world's leading illicit drug producer since 2001. In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. By 2019 Afghanistan still produced about 84% of the world market. This amounts to an export value of about US $4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers. In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers' share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.
The 2007 gasoline rationing plan in Iran was launched by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet to reduce that country's fuel consumption. Although Iran is one of the world's largest producers of petroleum, rapid increases in demand and limited refining capacity have forced the country to import about 40% of its gasoline, at an annual cost of up to USD $7 billion.
This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency related to transnational crime, including the illicit drug trade.
Crime in Afghanistan is present in various forms, and includes the following: corruption, contract killings or assassinations, bombings, kidnapping, drug trafficking, money laundering, black marketeering, and ordinary crimes such as theft and assault.
Crime in Russia refers to the multivalent issues of organized crime, extensive political and police corruption, and all aspects of criminality at play in Russia. Violent crime in Siberia is much more apparent than in Western Russia.
Bhutan has a low crime rate. Incidents of petty crime are occasionally reported in the country. Violent crime is very uncommon. Some cases of drug abuse are reported; alcohol abuse is a problem. But in general, drug trafficking is low. The most serious threat to Bhutan's security is terrorism by different terrorist groups from neighboring countries illegally camped in the nation.
Crime in Egypt is moderate, but still occurs in various forms. Forms of crime include drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, corruption, and black marketeering.
Afghanistan is one of the source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficking within Afghanistan is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of victims are children. In 2005 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported 150 child trafficking cases to other states. Afghan boys and girls are trafficked within the country and into Iran, Pakistan and India as well as Persian gulf Arab states, where they live as slaves and are forced to prostitution and forced labor in brick kilns, carpet-making factories, and domestic service. In some cases the boys and girls were used for organ trafficking. Forced begging is a growing problem in Afghanistan; Mafia groups organize professional begging rings. Afghan boys are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in the drug smuggling industry in Pakistan and Iran. Afghan women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution, arranged and forced marriages—including those in which husbands force their wives into prostitution—and involuntary domestic servitude in Pakistan and Iran, and possibly India. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) report that over the past year, increasing numbers of boys were trafficked internally. Some families knowingly sell their children for forced prostitution, including for bacha bazi - a practice combining sexual slavery and child prostitution, through which wealthy men use harems of young boys for social and sexual entertainment. Other families send their children with brokers to gain employment. Many of these children end up in forced labor, particularly in Pakistani carpet factories. NGOs indicate that families sometimes make cost-benefit analyses regarding how much debt they can incur based on their tradable family members.
Opium in Iran is widely available, and the country has been estimated to have the highest per capita number of opioid addicts in the world at a rate of 2.8% of Iranians over age 15. The Iranian government estimates the number of addicts at 2 million. Opium and heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan—known collectively as the Golden Crescent—pass through Iran's eastern borders in large amounts. Iran burned 56 tons of Illicit Drugs on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Organized crime in Pakistan refers to the activities of groups of organized crime in Pakistan, The Pakistani mafia is spread in many countries. Pakistani mafia groups are mostly ethnically based. The Pakistani mafia is involved in drug trafficking, assassination, land grabbing, arms smuggling and various other illegal activities.
Crime is present in various forms in Myanmar and is continuous with the activities of many drug trafficking financed militias at the eastern and western border regions, and with corruption within and challenges to the central government.
East African drug trade refers to the sale and trafficking of illegal drugs that take place in East African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The most prevalent types of drugs traded in East Africa are heroin, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and khat, all of which are strictly prohibited in East African countries.
Illicit drug trafficking in the West Indian Ocean (WIO) has increasingly become a major security concern for many States in the region, and is gaining international attention. The Indian Ocean borders 24 states, and accounts for a third of the world’s ocean area. Until recently, other challenges, such as piracy off the coast of Somalia, has been at the forefront of international action. However, the utilisation of the Southern route by drug traffickers, and the consequent issues this has caused, has led to increased focus on how to tackle this issue.
Ghazal "Mona" Heydari was an Iranian Arab teenage girl who was beheaded in Ahvaz, Iran in a honour killing by her husband. Mona and her husband were first cousins. Pictures and videos of her husband, Sajjad Heydari, smiling while carrying her head, caused widespread outrage in Iran. In the aftermath of the beheading, her husband and her brother-in-law were arrested by Iranian police.
The drug economy in Lebanon refers to the expanding Lebanese involvement in both drug production and trade, a phenomenon substantiated by studies. The economic and political upheaval in Lebanon, as delineated in a study by the Euro-Gulf Information Center, has driven Hezbollah, wherein narcotics serve as a notable revenue stream, to intensify its involvement in the drug economy. Western intelligence agencies estimate that Lebanon produces over 4 million pounds of hashish and 20,000 pounds of heroin annually, generating profits exceeding US$4 billion. According to The Washington Post, Lebanon's drug industry contributes substantially to the country's economy, accounting for over half of its foreign-exchange earnings.
