The official IRNA news agency said in a report Wednesday, citing a VAJA statement, that the rings had been active in trafficking and counterfeiting vaccines which are in high demand throughout Iran.
The statement said VAJA forces were tipped-off from the public, using extensive intelligence information to crack the rings.
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The report said that the vaccines confiscated included major foreign brands like the Chinese Sinopharm or the British AstraZeneca as well as the US-made Pfizer, which is banned in Iran. The report, however, did not elaborate how much of the haul were fakes.
Iran has been undergoing a relatively slow vaccination campaign against COVID-19 since late December. Authorities have stated that U.S. banking sanctions and a global shortage of vaccines have led to a delayed inoculation program and caused many to seek out jabs in the black market.
Iranian health ministry officials have repeatedly warned that vaccines offered in the black market for exorbitant prices are indeed fake.
The VAJA statement explaiend it had also seized counterfeit COVID-19 drugs from the ringleaders’ hideout places.
VAJA revealed that those arrested used ads on the social media to deceive “a significant number of people” to buy both the drugs and the vaccines.
The statement concluded that the operations covered several locations across Iran, clarifying that judicial authorities cooperated in the raids.