Fuel Smuggling Through The Lens Of An Iranian – Manual Only
Born in 1985 in Nahavand City, in the Hamedan province in Iran; Sadegh Souri raises up to be one of the most promising photographers of his time. This young, talented man succeeds to represent the dreadful truth of the fuel smuggling through his work on the photos that you can check further below.
If you are unfamiliar with the fuel smuggling story: daily, around six million liters of diesel and paraffin oil are smuggled from Iran to Pakistan. The low price itself for fuel in Iran compared to Pakistan is the main reason for the locals to undertake such life threatening steps in order to make a living. However, in doing so, these people become victims of the police due to the strict border crossing policies. They go so far that if a vehicle enters the border zone, the officers have the right to open fire at the vehicle.
Unfortunately, this profitable steps lead us to a very sad and yet dangerous story that Souri managed to represent in his exhibition called “Smuggling victims”.
Drivers scribble poems on the rear of their vehicles so the “environment agents” (border police) do not block their way on the road. Here, a smuggler has written, “I am the lord of Baluchistan. I am in the desert day and night. Although I’m carrying diesel, do not shoot me because I am young.”
Smugglers enter diesel depots at sunset. After filling the fuel cans, the smugglers set out for the Pakistan border.
About 3,000 donkeys have died due to being overworked on the mountainous paths, carrying heavy loads.
Image: Sadegh SouriMore than 3,000 vehicles are currently smuggling fuel in the Sistan and Baluchistan Province. They gather at the border’s “point zero” which is the last point where cars are allowed. They unload their cargo there, and other people carry the fuel onto donkeys headed towards the mountains of Pakistan.
Some of the roads near the border are so hard to pass through, even the donkeys cannot get through. Here the smugglers carry the diesel barrels by hand.
The police has fired at this man’s car several times, but he survived every time. In the last shooting, four bullets hit the windshield.
Abdullah is 24. He was going to the Saravan border, the only border protected by barbed wire instead of a wall, with more than 2,200 litres of diesel. Wanting to pass the border with a car, they crashed and Abdullah was burned over 50 percent of his body. He lost eight of his fingers.
Fuel Themes 2015
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