IOR/R/15/2/163

The volume concerns gun-running and piracy in the Persian Gulf.

The principal correspondents are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Political Agent, Bahrain; the Residency Agent, Sharjah; the Political Agent, Muscat; and the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf (SNOPG).

The papers cover: official enquiries about the quantity of arms in circulation in the Persian Gulf; reports of the smuggling of arms from east Africa via Saudi Arabia and the Gulf littoral to Iranian tribes; a request from the Political Agent, Bahrain to the Ruler of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thanī] that those involved should be punished, December 1941 (folios 85-86); reports of the smuggling of arms at various places in the Gulf; frequent reference to the involvement of Baluchis in arms traffic and piracy; reports of traffic in German (Mauser) rifles and pistols; the movements around the Gulf of individuals and 'gangs' suspected of acts of piracy; trading in slaves; requests to the Government of Bahrain and the Political Agent, Bahrain from merchants for licences to carry arms for self-protection; a secret report by a 'special messenger' who had been asked to make enquiries at old Jask in Iran, December 1942 (folios 159-165); and enquiries into the robbery of Royal Air Force (RAF) stores at Kuh Mubarak, near Jask, March-April 1945 (folios 224-229).

The Arabic language content of the papers consists of approximately twelve folios of correspondence (with English translations) from various correspondents, including the Political Agent, Bahrain, and persons requesting licences for rifles and ammunition.