ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian border guards early on Monday shot dead a Kurdish kolbar near the city of Baneh in western Iran (Rojhelat), a human rights monitor reported. The kolbar was shot in the chest by direct fire.
Hushyar Hasanzadeh, 20, was shot in the chest and critically injured by Iranian border guards while he was plying his trade. He was transferred to a hospital in Baneh city where he later succumbed to his injuries, according to Hengaw Human Rights Organization.
Kolbars are a small cog in a sophisticated and hugely profitable machine. Clothing, alcohol, cigarettes, mobile phones - they all arrive in the Kurdistan Region from Dubai, Turkey, or Iraq’s southern borders, where they are then transferred to depots close to the Iranian border. At night, hundreds of mules transport the goods to a collection point, where wholesalers set up guarded tents to hand tens of kilos of goods over to incoming kolbars each morning.
Powerful businessmen in Tehran, Erbil, and across the Middle East make handsome sums of money in the process. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose own guards survey the area, is reportedly involved in the trade and uses the smuggling routes.
Though no more than seven kilometers each way, the kolbar’s trek is no mean feat. The rocky path is laden with landmines and border guards who at times fire to kill or injure. But it is especially frightening in the winter, with snow several meters deep, ice-laden paths, and potent blizzard winds.
Due to limited job opportunities in many border areas of Iran, people are frequently left with no option but to take on such dangerous journeys to make a living.
Rudaw English has withheld the name of the author out of concern for their safety.
