IOR/L/PS/12/4097

Correspondence and reports concerning individual cases of slavery and slave trading in the Persian Gulf. The file covers two cases.

The first is of a pearl diver and former slave seeking refuge aboard HMS Fowey, details of which are contained in a manuscript extract from the Report of Proceedings of the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf Division, September 1937 (folio 18).

The second case, and forming the majority of the file, concerns the hunt for two individuals, Chakar (also written Chakir) Murad Baluch and Mustafa Khan Baluch believed by the Iranian Government to be guilty of piracy and slave-trading, and thought to be operating as part of a gang from the Batinah Coast. The correspondence is between officials at the Foreign Office, India Office, Admiralty, Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, and British Legation in Tehran. Matters covered by the papers include the Iranian Government's request for action to be taken, the Sultan of Muscat's desire to deal with the fugitives himself, and Chakar's eventual death. Included as enclosures are extracts from the Intelligence Reports of the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf that contain information about the fugitives.