Tehran, August 05, 09 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Officials in Iran dismissed claims about $18.5 billion container load stolen into Turkey through western border checkpoint of Bazargan.

 

Lately, there have been rumors of an Iranian businessman who packed his wealth worth $18.5 billion on several container trucks to Turkey for the purpose of investment in that country in Turkish media.

 

However the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, yesterday, dismissed those reports as sheer fiction. 'The reports claiming that $18.5 billion in cash and gold was transited from Iran to Turkey are totally baseless.' The Iranian Intelligence Ministry Public Relations Department said, and suggested that media outlets better avoid publicizing such unconfirmed reports.

 

Meanwhile in Turkey, Turkish customs officials were also unaware of the report of such confiscation. The story began when Turkey's television station Kanal D channel had aired the initial report of an Iranian businessman named Esmaeel Safarian-Nassab, who had transported $7.5 billion in cash and 20 tons of gold to Turkey via the border between the two countries. The trucks were later confiscated once they reached turkey. The TV report quoted Safarian as saying he wanted his money and gold back.

 

Turkish State Minister Hayati Yazici dismissed the report as “false and baseless”, Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu reported.

 Source: Agencies