Two makeshift pipelines discovered on Iranian border

Two makeshift pipelines discovered on Iranian border

HAKKARİ - Anatolia News Agency

Local security officials said contrabandist were transporting oil from Iran with a convoy of 700-800 mules, as seen in this handout picture. DHA photo

Turkish gendarmerie forces have discovered two makeshift pipelines along the Iranian border in the southeastern province of Hakkari, in an operation targeting oil traffickers carried out April 26. The pipelines are thought to provide oil from Iran to the Turkish contrabandists. Fifteen tons of diesel fuel being transported by 400 mules were also seized in the operation.

"[The security forces] have intervened in a convoy of 700-800 mules entering Turkey from Iran. Four hundred mules were intercepted. The contrabandists noticed the intervention and fled to the Iranian side of the border," local gendarmerie officials stated.

Şemdinli district in Hakkari lies in the scarp mountainous region that borders both Iran and Iraq and is a major smuggling area.