BAGHDAD, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A suspected Iranian arms smuggler has been released by Iraqi officials after three days in custody, officials said.
The Iranian hard-line newspaper Kayhan said Nader Qorbani was let go because of Iran's influence with Iraq's Shiite-dominated government but U.S. military officials have refused to confirm the claim, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
Qorbani's Nov. 18 arrest in Baghdad was hailed by U.S. officials as a victory in stopping "lethal aid shipments" to Iraqi insurgents but Kayhan said Qorbani was an innocent contractor involved only in "repairing and maintaining of the holy sites in Iraq."
"We respected their (Iraqi) sovereignty by complying with their request," military spokesman U.S. Navy Cmdr. Abram McGull told the Times. "Their request was to transfer the individual into their custody."
U.S. officials said Qorbani's contracting job was a cover for a smuggling operation in which weapons were hidden in boxes of building materials and alleged that Qorbani was carrying cocaine when he was arrested at the airport, the newspaper said.
