(MENAFN) 500 Iranians were arrested while trying to enter the country using forged visas during the Persian New Year holidays also known as Nowruz, director general of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, Murtada Aqaei, has said.
"Iraqi authorities have arrested 500 Iranians who entered the Iraqi territories using forged visas through two border crossings south and west of Iran. After negotiations with the Iraqi side, the Iranians were returned to the country, and handed over to the police for investigation" he said.
According to the Iranian official, Iranian tourists have been visiting holy Shia shrines in Iraq since the start of the Nowruz holiday on March 21 and during this period some unlicensed tourism companies issued fake visas to Iraq".
He pointed out that "90,000 Iranians visited Shia shrines in Iraq during the holidays".
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