19 tons of explosives were seized by authorities as they were being smuggled across the Iran border and into Afghanistan, according to police.
Abdul Jabar Purdel, the Police Chief of Nimruz, said that a suspect is being held in the incident. The province of Nimruz is located in the southwestern corner of Afghanistan, along the Iran and Pakistan border.
The explosives were found in boxes located inside a shipping container that measures 40 feet. The container was being moved across the border via a bridge that links the countries. The boxes were labeled “food”, “toys”, and “kitchenware”.
The U.S. Defense Department announced earlier this year that it had intelligence that suggested Iran intended to smuggle weapons into Afghanistan. The information had come from a previously verified source in Iran, according to a Defense Department official. The same official commented how it was not in Iran’s best interest to supply weapons to the Taliban, given their history.
Though officials in Iran deny that they ship weapons to insurgents in Afghanistan, U.S. and coalition troops have found caches and individual weapons from Iran during military incursions.
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