TEHRAN – Iranian authorities have recently busted four gangs of illegal diggers in northern Mazandaran province.Iranian police have smashed four gangs of illegal excavators in various operations conducted in Galugah county of Mazandaran province, a provincial police commander said on Wednesday.“Nine suspects have been arrested red-handed while they were illegally conducting excavations.”They have been surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation and trial, the commander added.Mazandaran (also known as Tabarestan) has long been a cradle of civilization since the beginning of the first millennium BC.

According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, it was almost overrun in about 720 CE by the Arab raiders.Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed.

It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation.

The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty.

The northern section of the region consists of a lowland alongside the Caspian and an upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains.AFM