ZARANJ (Pajhwok Afghan News) – Iran has allowed Afghan cargo trucks, impounded on the border for two weeks, to cross into Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday.

Customs officials in southwestern Nimroz (نیمروز) province say Iran had stopped the transit vehicles plying through Bandar Abbas (بندر عباس) to Nimroz. Iranian officials claimed the trucks’ huge tanks were used for smuggling fuel to Afghanistan, but traders denied the allegation as baseless.

“Iran allowed us to cross the borders on condition of replacing the fuel tanks,” said one of the truckers, Amanullah. He added Iranian officials had seized his passport and import permit.

“I have to change the fuel tank, otherwise Iranian border guards won’t return my passport and licence,” he said, acknowledging that most Afghan trucks had sub-standard fuel tanks.

More than 1,000 trucks were stopped on the Iranian side of the border last week, the Director of Customs Ilhamuddin Mazhar said. In the past two days, more than 700 trucks have crossed into Afghanistan. Over the past two weeks, the customs department suffered more than 240 million afghanis in losses, he said.