Examining Goods Smugglingas A Social Issue in the Country

This article explores one of the most important social issues that is "Smuggling of goods”.In terms of methodology, it has a survey nature and is a descriptive and analytical study. The sample population consists of all residents 16 years and over in seven provinces, including Kurdistan West Azarbaijan, Hormozgan and Khorasan (as frontier provinces), Tehran and Isfahan (provinces with highest consumption rate) and Semnan province (province with lowest consumption rate). The sample size was 7230 people. The main findings of this study indicate that the majority of the population (69 percent) believe that there are considerable Smuggling goods in the country, has various disadvantages and devastating effects. This is while, a large part of society has stressed that a variety of foreign goods - including televisions, mobile phones, home appliances and rare drugs that are entered the country through illicit means, due to low price are easily sold on the market, and this is more observed in the provinces with highest consumption rate compared to provinces with lowest consumption rate and frontier provinces. The majority of respondents of the survey (over two-thirds) have stressed that the smuggling of goods is a phenomenon in which different groups and organizations are involved, and convergence, synergy and linkage between flows and organized bands and some figures and influential forces in machines officially facilitate the smuggling process. The respondents also acknowledged that the fight against smuggling requires firm determination of the authorities, and especially the presence and participation of people with the authorities so that by relying on social capital we can fight cleverly against this phenomenon that has various functions and negative consequences.