News

Tehran - Authorities catch only about a
quarter of the $730m worth of alcoholic drinks smuggled annually into
Iran, where liquor is banned under Islamic law, a newspaper reported on
Monday.

"Every year $730m worth of alcoholic drinks enter Iran,
but only $200m worth are discovered," the Khabar newspaper quoted the
anti-smuggling bureau's secretary Hassan Vanaei as saying.

Liquor
production and consumption have been strictly prohibited in the Islamic
republic since the 1979 revolution and violations are punishable by
jail terms or lashes.

But this has not stopped production of
home-made booze, or smuggled liquor from neighbouring countries. Local
media often report deaths from contaminated alcohol.

Moonshine
killed three people in September last year, 10 in March 2009 and four in
November of the previous year, according to media reports.

In
April 2007, 10 people died from home-made liquor in the holy city of
Qom, the clerical nerve centre of Shi'ite Islam and home to many
religious seminaries south of Tehran.

Recognised Christian
minorities, such as Armenians, are discreetly allowed to produce and
consume alcohol in order not to offend Islamic sensibiliti... >>>