Death on the highway: the high cost of poverty in southeastern Iran

A police chase in southeastern Iran ended in tragedy earlier this month when it caused an accident between two cars, killing four people. In the incident, on August 3, a police patrol attempted to stop a "soukhtbar", a local name for smugglers who transport cheap Iranian petrol to neighbouring Pakistan in cars equipped with makeshift plastic tanks. The fatal accident led to protests by locals in Iran’s third-poorest province, where unemployed young men are increasingly turning to fuel-smuggling to make a living.