Iran Stops Shipment of ‘Stuffed’ Carpets
Iranian authorities confiscated hundreds of silk carpets before they could be smuggled out of the country, then discovered the rugs were stuffed with jewelry, the official news agency said Saturday.
The shipment of hand-woven carpets, the largest taken from smugglers in 10 years, was valued at tens of millions of dollars, and the jewelry was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the report said.
The Islamic Republic News Agency said intelligence officers in two southwestern provinces discovered the 774 carpets in tanker trucks last week. They were to have been loaded on boats in Bushehr province.
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