Mason Purcell, or Fawzia dokthar -i- Sanjar was quite a lot of things and a female rug merchant on top of it. Therfore she had quite an enterprise and tons of knowledge, personal experience and language competence of the parts in the world where rugs and carpets are knotted.
So yes, there was someone involved who had detailed knowledge of that area including iran, afghanistan and pakistan.
Just realised how much I miss that old crone. Damn. Over 7 years since she succumbed to blood cancer.