TOKYO: Tokyo police have raided a ship dealer in Osaka and related places for a suspected illegal export deal with Iran, investigative sources said Wednesday.

The company is believed to have violated the customs law by exporting a cargo vessel to Iran after declaring to the customs around May 2021 that the freighter was being delivered to a company in the United Arab Emirates, according to sources at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau.

While Japan does not ban exports of ships to Iran, the United States has imposed economic sanctions on the country over its nuclear development.

The used ship dealer bought the 499-ton vessel, made in 1997 and co-owned by the government-affiliated Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, through an auction in April 2021.

JIJI Press