Police Deplores 1m Foreign Nationals Living In Iran Without Authorization

Tehran, Dec 3, IRNA – Islamic Republic of Iran Police Commander Brigadier-General Esmaeil Ahmadi Moqadam on Monday expressed concern that about one million foreign nationals living in Iran without authorization. He said that the figure was high in the past several years and police took necessary measures to repatriate them voluntarily. Ahmadi Moqadam said that IRIP have prepared action plan to encourage foreign nationals without authorization for voluntary repatriation. He told reporters at the third workshop on campaign against human trafficking that there are about some 1,300,000 foreign nationals residing in the Islamic Republic of Iran mostly the Afghan nationals some of them involved in higher education studies or research projects. He expressed pleasure with a decline in the figure. On the illegal activities of human trafficking gangs on border areas, he said most of them are giving services to Afghan nationals and create numerous problems for them. The third workshop on human trafficking campaign at INTERPOL operation region kicked off on Monday in presence of representatives from 15 countries in Tehran. He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran Police through implementing long-term and complex programs have controlled the issue and prevent illegal entry of foreign nationals. He said that IRIP have provided adequate statistics about authorized Afghan residents in Iran which stood at 1,400,000. Close cooperation with neighboring countries in the past five years help reduce activities of human trafficking gangs on border areas, said the commander./end