Iran calls on Pakistan to free Iranian border guards

TEHRAN, Jan.4 (MNA) – Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaqari, the commander of the border police,called on the Pakistani border police to release the three Iranian border guards as soon as possible. Pakistani authorities announced on Sunday that they have arrested three Iranian border guards who had inadvertently crossed into southwestern Pakistan while chasing after smugglers, AP reported. Zolfaqari said that the Iranian border guards are in good health. He said that a meeting about the release of the detainees has been held with a number of Pakistani border police officials and another meeting is scheduled to be held soon in this regard. On the details of the incident, he said, “Three nights ago, border guards in the city of Saravan, in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, exchanged fire with a group of criminals and armed smugglers.” He added that during the firefight, the Iranian border guards killed two of them and arrested two others while the rest managed to escape into Pakistani soil. The commander said that three Iranian border guards chased the smugglers during the night at the zero point of the border and unintentionally crossed into the Pakistani soil before being arrested by their Pakistani counterparts. 500 kilograms of drugs were also seized as a result of the conflict with the smugglers, he said.