Iran warns over gasoline smuggling by fuel card abuse

By  Trend

National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company(NIOPDC) has warned over possible misuse of fuel cards for smuggling gasoline, Tasnim reported quoting the company's statement.

The government seeks to confront the gasoline traffic by creating more strict rules on use of fuel cards that are currently being bought and sold multiple times. Iran's economic downturn has led the card owners to sell their cards to smugglers.

"Considering the capacities of fuel card system there is no possibility that a person can use two cards", the NIOPDC statement added.

The fuel card program was launched to subsidized gasoline quotas to car owners as a means to curb consumption, adjusting prices and cutting down fuel smuggling.

"To issue a replacement card, the owner must file for a lost card first and demand for the replica of the old card to be canceled and then the process of issuing a new card begins", said the statement.

Due to low value of fuel, some file for replacement card to use it alongside the original fuel card to purchase more gasoline and sell it to smugglers.

More than one billion liters (roughly 265,000 gallons) of gasoline have been smuggled out of Iran in the past few months, Reuters quoted Iran's anti-smuggling police chief IRGC Briadier-General Ali Moayyedi saying in October 10.